The Potions Master
by Lucky Snitch
Summary: The story of the invention of the Wolfsbane potion and the people who made it possible (Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Oliver Wood's sister and Prof. Dumbledore, of course)
1. Chapter I The Potions Master

The Potions Master  
  
Chapter I - Potions Master versus Potions Master  
  
"Fluxweed... spiders webs... boomslang bone... caterpillar eggs and... gilliweed... ok... Let me see if there is something else missing here... I'm ok in leeches and devil's snare... no problem with avacantes... " There was a knock on the door. "Oh, come on! I'm about to leave!"  
  
Ellie dropped the shopping list she had been making and jumped over a big vase on the floor. She had to step over two piles of books and a small stool before reaching the door, where there was another impatient knock in no time.  
  
"Oh, hold your horses, will you?" She reached the door, at last, and opened to no other than-  
  
"Sevy!"  
  
There was a black dressed man with short shoulder-length hair on the door who certainly did not answer lightly by the name of Sevy.  
  
"Come in, Sevy, don't mind the mess!" and the young woman crossed the room in no time. Severus Snape, the Hogwarts Potions Master, tried to follow her, but he took a bit longer, for "mess" was an understatement: the room was filled with every sort of objects you could imagine and with a lot more than he ever though possible to fit in such a small room. The floor was covered in books, loose papers and a number of familiar objects, like a sword and an old broom, and some not-so-familiar, like something that looked like a Hungarian Horntail horn, and so were the chairs and table in one of the corners of the room, where Snape could see Ellie looking for something.  
  
"Hello, Ellie. I came by to-"  
  
"I have it ready." she said with an amused smile.  
  
"Well... ", he said, and he looked a bit taken aback. "You said you needed help so I decided to come a bit earlier." she was still looking for something under every piece of furniture in the room. "Since you don't need my help anymore, I'll leave."  
  
"No, no, no, no, Sevy, please" she said, glancing under a chair. She noticed he was still looking at her and quickly looked at him too "I mean... I have it ready but I still want your opinion on it."  
  
"You seem rather busy" he said, when she looked over his shoulder to something by the door.  
  
"Actually I was just going out. I have some shopping to do." She walked slowly towards the door again, looking very closely at the floor. Snape sighed. He picked a piece of parchment from the table.  
  
"Boomslang bone?" he asked, reading it "How did you run out of it?"  
  
"Oh!, Thanks Sevy! I was looking for that" she picked it from his hands and said "Well, it's one of the things I used. Not very common, I know" she added hastily at the sight of his scandalized face "but you will see if it works." Snape was looking very suspicious.  
  
"You used boomslang bone with toad's skin? And it didn't explode right in your face?"  
  
"Sorry, no. I hate to disappoint you, but as you can see my face is still in one piece. Which must mean- Well, come and see for yourself!" And she dragged him by the robes to the next room, which was as messy as the last, except for a long table from one side to the other of one of the walls, filled with tubes and a line of cauldrons all fuming and sparkling differently.  
  
They stopped in front of a tinny gold cauldron, with a green mixture stirring slowly. Ellie picked a small parchment from under it and handled it to Snape, who looked more and more suspicious.  
  
"It's all there" she said proudly. "I would have used a silver cauldron, but I couldn't take the risk" and winked at him. But Snape didn't seem to be hearing her at all. He was reading the receipt very closely and with each line he seemed to be slowly turning from suspicious to stunned.  
  
He kept mumbling under his breath while reading it like if he was solving some long equation, saying things like "the gilliweed stabilizes it" and "cologin binds the grains, of course", until he finally reached the last line and, amazed, looked at Ellie, who was still smiling.  
  
"I think you've got it..." he said, half admiring half envying her. Snape was checking the recipe once more and then, after a final check on the cauldron, he said "I really think you've got it."  
  
"I still need someone to test it on" she said, now looking a bit worried.  
  
"I'm sorry, but I don't know where he is." he replied rather coldly.  
  
"Don't you know or don't you care?" she asked, her cheeks going rather pink.  
  
"I don't know... but I also don't care."  
  
"Oh, Sevy, I need him! How can I test my Wolfsbane potion without a werewolf?"  
  
"Is that what you named it?"  
  
"Well," she said "it's only a temporary name. I never was that good at naming. Besides, I'm not even sure it works. Apparently" she added very grumpily "I will never know, will I?"  
  
"There are plenty of werewolves out there." he said coldly. "You know where to find them, don't you?"  
  
"Of course I know where to find them." she added, still grumpy. She took the list from his hands and walked out of the room.  
  
"Weren't you going shopping?" said Snape, following her.  
  
"I still am" she said, picking her wand from inside a flowers vase on a stool. "I was looking for this! Accio shopping list!"  
  
About half a hundred papers came soaring into her hand.  
  
"Nope." she said, reading the first and throwing it away. "Nope."  
  
"I'll be going then" said Snape.  
  
"Nope. Bye, Sevy. Nope"  
  
"Stop calling me Sevy, will you?"  
  
"Nope." and this time it was for him, together with a smile. "Nope. Oh, here it is!"  
  
"Goodbye, Ellie. I'll send you a werewolf if I see one."  
  
"Thanks Sevy. I know I can always count on friends to send me nice things." Ellie said. And Snape actually twitched his lips in a strange kind of smile. 


	2. Chapter II The Invitation

Chapter II - The Invitation  
  
The rain was twinkling in the room's window. Ellie liked it when it rained but this time she didn't seem to hear it. She was concentrating hard on a piece of parchment and her quill kept writing while her wand kept erasing what the quill had written.  
  
She didn't seem to be getting the hang of it.  
  
She wrote about a thousand letters when she was on her journeys throughout the world, studying magical creatures and inventing new potions. To her mum, to Oliver, her (much) younger brother, to Annie, to Lily, to Sevy, to Petie and she even sent two owls to Sery. But she never found the heart to owl Remus Lupin. Writing to him for the first time was not easy.  
  
But she needed him. She had made it all for him. "I made it for all the suffering werewolves out there!" she said angrily to herself. But a little voice in her head kept asking very softly "If that's true, why don't you try it on another werewolf, then?"  
  
And, very secretly, she had to admit, only to herself (she would cut her tongue before repeating it to anyone else!!), that she had attempted the wolfsbane potion with a small little hope in her heart named Remus.  
  
And so she wrote:  
  
"Dear Remus, I hope this letter finds you well. You must remember me, from Hogwarts. I remember you, you're not easy to forget." Cheesiest line!! And the wand quickly removed it. She went on "I was wondering if there is any chance of you to come by my place one of these days? I'd like to discuss some of my recent experiments with you. I trust you remember where I live. If not, please send an owl, and I'll be glad to meet you anywhere else."  
  
It seemed very formal, but never-the-less, it had the invitation and that's what it counts. She signed the letter and tied it to a little owl's leg. "Don't worry if you can't find him, Perseus, I'm not sure there is anyone who knows where he is." Perseus seemed very offended by theses words and assured her with his eyes that the message was has good has delivered already.  
  
Ellie smiled and opened a window. She watched as Perseus flew out of the window and out of sight.  
  
Now all she had to do was wait.  
  
* * *  
  
For two weeks there was no answer from Perseus. Ellie was regretting already to have send him. She was very fond of Perseus, and it seemed like this shot in the dark would never work and she might even never see her beautiful owl again.  
  
Even so, she carried on with her life, while the Wolfsbane potion, with a Freezing Charm, was kept inactive.  
  
One morning, an owl came swooping into the room. It had a letter from Oliver. He had just received his own Hogwarts letter, which she never doubted, and he was hysterical with excitement. He kept asking about Quidditch teams inside school and if there was any chance he could be in a house team, even if first years weren't allowed their own brooms.  
  
Ellie laughed at his untidy writing and decided not to answer right away and let him dream a little more, for first years never made it into the house teams. He also said in his letter that mum had agreed to let him stay with her, Ellie, for a week. She added a reply to the owl saying "Ollie, I'll pick you up next monday. Oceans of love, Ellie." and quickly sent it back.  
  
There was still a Flea-repellent potion she had to finish for some crazy warlock who kept saying his pumpkins caught fleas, but she would be free then to spend a few days with her brother. They could even go together to Diagon Alley, for his shopping list.  
  
She made her way to a small kitchen and was just starting some toasts when she found a small glass with "Bmslg. bone" written on it.  
  
"Oh, I was looking for this!" and she pocketed in her robes, wishing she could give use to it in a very short time. 


	3. Chapter III Ellie and Ollie

Chapter III - Ellie and Ollie  
  
By monday morning, Ellie Apparated at her mum's house and was enthusiastically greeted by Oliver. Their mother was a very kind and modest witch, with a contagious smile and brown eyes that seemed to see only what was good in people. She was an excellent teacher and that reflected in her children's education, who were always as polite as you could be, especially Oliver, who never lost his touch except when you talked about Quidditch. Mrs. Wood had also been the educator of a number of wizard's children, where they learned their basic education (the equivalent to Muggle's primary school).  
  
They had an excellent lunch, after which some wizard children arrived to spend some time with Mrs. Wood, and Ellie and Oliver took the chance to leave to Diagon Alley. Since Oliver couldn't Apparate, and Ellie was not very fond of Floo Powder, they decided to take the Inter Knight Bus, the equivalent of the Knight Bus for longer journeys.  
  
They arrived in London nearly 1 hour later and they still heard the distant Big Ben ring 3 o'clock before going into the Leaky Cauldron to Diagon Alley. Oliver had been there before, but the prospect of buying his own stuff made him over-excited about the whole thing.  
  
He kept talking about how exciting it was to be going to Hogwarts and asking things like "Which house do you think I'm gonna be?" and "Who chooses the Quidditch players for the house teams?"  
  
They bough his uniform, books, quill and parchment, his wand and, of course, his cauldron, in a shop where Ellie stopped for a while and helped choose the right and perfect cauldron for his brother, like if she was a very annoying and female version of Mr. Ollivander and his wands. This gave Oliver such a fit of giggles he kept teasing her all afternoon: "It is the cauldron that chooses the wizard, Mrs Wood, not the other way round!" ("Oh, shut up, Ollie!").  
  
After a quick ice cream at Florean Fortscue, Ellie decided to show his brother a bit of muggle London. She was very fond of muggles and she insisted Oliver should know at least a bit about their way of living, since they had achieve quite a bit without any magic. But that was a very unfortunate day to make that point, since there had been some football final and all the muggles seemed quite crazy, dancing around and singing and making all kinds of silly things because of a sport that involved only one ball... Oliver though it was so dull that Ellie decided to make it up for him returning to Diagon Alley and let him drool at the new Cleansweep that had just come out, the fastest broom ever.  
  
It was 10 p.m. when they arrived at Ellie's house. She conjured a little bed for his brother and made hot chocolate and cookies for them in the evening to enjoy while watching uncle Aramis old photo album of Quidditch achievements (he had been Keeper for the Dangerous Dragons, a scottish team).  
  
Oliver fell asleep shortly after telling her sister that it had been the most perfect day of his entire life, "except for the day Scotland passed for the semi-finals of the Quidditch World Cup, of course."  
  
* * *  
  
The week passed so quickly they were sure there had been some kind of time mistake. This also assured them they had been having a wonderful time. Ellie decided to give in at last and teach him how to ride a broom, and Oliver was flying like a natural by wednesday morning. By the end of the week, he was already an excellent Beater of the many objects his sister kept Mobiliarbing him, although she kept saying a Beater is not suppose to beat things with the broom, but with the bat.  
  
Finally, sunday night arrived and they returned to Mrs. Wood's home, to have another excellent meal, like only she could make, and after dinner Ellie, kissed her mum and her brother (both slightly taken by emotion) and headed home.  
  
She Apparated at her studio, and checked a potion that was due to start brewing by that night. It had been full moon exactly two days before and that potion was now slowly turning from yellow to purple.  
  
Ellie had just entered the little kitchen's door when a small owl came flying through the window.  
  
"Perseus!" and she practically strangled the owl in a tight hug. He hooted pleased with himself and showed her his leg, where a small parchment was tied.  
  
She grabbed it with an unexpected trembling of hands and read in excitement:  
  
"I'll be there monday morning. Remus" 


	4. Chapter IV Monday Morning

Chapter IV - Monday morning  
  
Ellie hadn't slept almost all night and every time she did sleep she would have these weird dreams about weretigers and werefish accusing her of forgetting all about them just because she had fallen in love with a werewolf. Then they would complain to the Ministry of Magic, who sent a couple of Dementors (oddly dressed in emerald green) to lock her in Azkaban forever. And then she would wake up startled and convince herself that it was just a nightmare.  
  
By 5 a.m. she just gave up trying to sleep and went to her lab, to check and double check on the Wolfsbane potion.  
  
She was very nervous about what would happen. She didn't know how to ask him to be her lab rat, she wasn't sure how he would react and she hadn't seen him for ages!  
  
She made some breakfast and actually managed to fall asleep on the kitchen table, over her arm.  
  
This time, she was dreaming that a vampire had come, instead of Remus, and that he kept telling her he was Remus and she had made a mistake: he had never been a werewolf, he had been a vampire all along! Then she said "Rats! I'll just have to start all over again!" when she heard a knock on the door. She tried to open it but the door wouldn't open!  
  
Next moment, she woke up and realised there was actually someone knocking at the door.  
  
She quickly looked at a mirror by the door (she had markings on her face of the robes of her sleeve) and noticed her arm was numb.  
  
"I'll be right there!" she called, and the knocking stopped.  
  
Picking her wand (which had fallen under the table), she removed the markings on her face and quickly crossed the room. Not sure whether to Alohomora it or opening the door herself, she ended up Yellowmora it, which embarrassingly turned the door to a bright canary yellow.  
  
Outside, Remus Lupin frowned, looking at the door changing colours and hearing a number of weird noises that greatly resembled someone tripping over a pile of books.  
  
Finally, the door turned wood-brown again and was obviously opened by a spell because the person inside, closer than she should be, cursed when the door flung open in a spilt second and hit her right in the nose.  
  
Remus entered, very puzzled by the whole thing, and saw Ellie hanging on to her nose while looking for something on the ground.  
  
"Are you alright?" he asked leaning on her.  
  
"I'b jus' looging for by dose" Ellie said.  
  
"Your nose?!" he asked in alarm.  
  
"Joging! I'b looging for by wand."  
  
"Oh! Accio wand" Remus said and her wand came flying into his hand.  
  
"Thangs."  
  
"And your nose?..." he asked her in concern. But she was already moving to her lab ("I'll be right back"). He looked around for a place to sit, but unable to find one he found safe, gave up and just waited standing for her return. Two minutes later she entered the room again.  
  
"I'm so sorry about that."  
  
"Not at all, please. Are you alright?"  
  
"I've taken a very strong healing potion. I just hope my nose doesn't come of-centre. I'm joking!" she added, looking at his very concerned look on her nose, trying to eye-measure if it was still centred.  
  
There was a very awkward silence (Ellie was sure he was not convinced that it was just a joke) broken by her sudden voice "How about a cup of tea?"  
  
And they both walked towards the kitchen. Apart from the fact that he wasn't much familiarized with the place, he still walked very smoothingly through the great mess that was the living room, and a lot faster than Snape had.  
  
She indicated a high stool for him to seat and offered him a cup of tea.  
  
"Hummm, this is quite tasty." he said  
  
"Thanks." And those were the only words they exchange for long minutes, while drinking in silence. Finally he looked up at her and spoke again "So, tell me, Ellie, what have you been doing these many years?"  
  
"Travelling around the world, studying all sort of magical creatures and trying to invent new potions" The answer was so compact he winked blankly before finding his voice again.  
  
"I've been travelling too." he said. "I've been studying the dark arts. Well, self-defence against dark arts, I mean."  
  
"That's all the old gang's been doing for years. I mean, fighting the dark arts" and she suddenly remembered Sirius Black was in Azkaban because he had been in the dark arts and fell into silence again.  
  
"I'm... I'm sor-"  
  
"It's okay." he interrupted her.  
  
After a brief pause he spoke again, determined to keep some memories out of his mind. "Well, you said in your letter you wanted to discuss something. A new experiment, is it?" he seemed very business-like suddenly.  
  
"Yes. I've been trying some new... things."  
  
"And it's got to do with dark arts, is it?"  
  
"Hummm... yes, you can say that."  
  
"Wasn't that why you called me?"  
  
Suddenly it seemed a lot more difficult to tell him in person what it was. She had pictured this moment a million times in her mind. She would say "Oh, Remus, I found a cure!" and he would say "I've been waiting for this all my life! How can I ever thank you?" And they would break in tears and embrace with emotion (and in her wildest dreams they would kiss afterwards, although she knew that part was just a dream) but now she couldn't find the heart to say anything.  
  
Knowing her silence was starting to be a little strange, she smiled and said "Come and see, then, I want you to tell me what you think."  
  
And she pointed the door to the lab. They walked inside and she picked the recipe for the flea-repellent for pumpkins.  
  
"This is a new potion I've developed from the old Repelus by Godwin Groylock" He took it in his hands and examined it. "Hummm" he said "I'm not sure you got the right person. I'm not very good in potions, you know."  
  
"But you're good in dark creatures and fleas are certainly... dark... creatures...hum... I mean..."  
  
But he was looking at her rather then looking at the potion recipe or the cauldron. She fell silent.  
  
"I'm sure fleas are very dark creatures" he said with a smile "but I'm also sure this is not what you wanted to show me."  
  
She breathed very deeply and said "You're right." she took it from his hands and said very quickly "I've just finished brewing the Wolfsbane potion. It will prevent werewolves to become monsters every full moon."  
  
Whatever he though was the real reason for him to be there, he certainly never though it would be this one. Ellie was biting her lips in expectation. She was sure he was very surprised by what she said. He seemed to be fighting an inner battle. He looked rather pale and suddenly very tired. For few long minutes, she just stared at him, while he stared at nowhere in particular looking fragile and scared. They seemed to have stopped breathing and the only sound came from some bubbling potion in the room. At long last, he spoke in a hoarse voice.  
  
"Are you sure" he said, looking her very deeply in the eyes.  
  
"I've not tested it yet" she said "but, yes, I'm dead sure."  
  
He ran his fingers through his hair. It was such a weird moment. He closed his eyes and seemed to be doing very quick thinking, then, looking at her again, he said "You said it has not been tested yet..."  
  
The moment had come. She felt her heart bumping so hard it seemed it would to be coming out of her throat. For a split second she was sure he would say she was plain crazy and curse her before he left... forever.  
  
But he just said "I'll do it, then."  
  
His face was set... and her heart suddenly felt lighter than air. 


	5. Chapter V Tea and Tears

Chapter V - Tea and Tears  
  
Ellie and Lupin had been chattering for hours. They had seated out on the small back yard, on the ground, and were now looking at the sunset.  
  
"I was in a small town in Greenland where the sun set only once a year" she said "I missed it so much... It makes you see all these little pieces of magic nature gives everyday in a brand new light."  
  
"I spent three months in Australia, in a place where there were trees only near a small water stream." said Remus "I never though I'd miss trees so much... or fog." he gave a very quiet laugh and added "I missed the english fog and rain, can you believe it?"  
  
"And I bet you had never even noticed trees that much."  
  
"You're right" he said thoughtfully "I didn't care much. Or I though I didn't."  
  
The sun was sinking in a beautiful horizon painted orange and violet, and tinny pink clouds looked like strokes of a brush of a very skilled and tasteful painter.  
  
They sat silently for a while. Then they heard a knock on the door. She went inside to open it and Lupin just sat there. He never expected his life could change so suddenly and so radically. If the potion worked, he would be letting go of something that was living inside him for so long that he though it was already a part of him. Ellie had already explained to him that the potion wouldn't prevent him to change: it would only keep his mind human while in wolf skin. If it worked... she had added.  
  
"Sevy!" he heard her voice from inside. And she appeared at a window seconds later "Remus, come in."  
  
He walked into the kitchen and crossed to the living room where no other than Severus Snape stood by the door. He hadn't seen him in a long time, but he was just as he remembered: always in black, with a cold expression and that slimy hair he used to tease along with James and-  
  
He realised thinking of James and Sirius of painful and was glad Ellie was talking again.  
  
"I wasn't expecting you!" she said in a surprised but happy voice.  
  
"I've come to-"  
  
"Oh, sorry," she said quickly, looking at Snape's expression on Lupin "You've met, of course!" she added.  
  
"Yes" said Snape in a cold voice and shaking hands very quickly.  
  
They had all actually been to Hogwarts together. And Snape clearly remembered Lupin well, for his expression was of absolute loathing.  
  
"Do you want a tea or something?" she said "I was about to make some for us."  
  
"No, thank you, Ellie" Snape said coolly. "As I was saying, I just came to collect that receipt you promised me. You said I could come today."  
  
"Oh!" she said, suddenly remembering "I'm sorry. My brother was here all week and I just... " she was looking very ashamed. "I forgot, Sevy. Let me just see if I can find a copy!" and she dashed off to her lab. The two men were left alone.  
  
There was a very heavy silence between them.  
  
"We hadn't seen in ages" said Lupin, attempting conversation.  
  
"Yes" said Snape, apparently disappointed by the change.  
  
"Hum... You've been with anyone else lately, from our time? Besides Ellie, of course."  
  
"No."  
  
Silence again.  
  
"I haven't seen anyone either" Lupin said, rather quietly.  
  
"Good thing, too." said Snape with a twisted smile. "Dementors are such foul creatures."  
  
Lupin swallowed, slightly hurt at these words.  
  
"I found a copy!" Ellie said, coming in from the lab in a perfect timing. She gave Snape a piece of parchment, apparently unaware of the daggering silence.  
  
"There you are, Sevy."  
  
"Will you quit it with that Sevy thing?" he hissed, pocketing the receipt. He could tolerate her calling him Sevy when no one else was present, but in front of others was absolute torture!  
  
"Don't mind him, Remus, he actually likes it." she said with a grin.  
  
"I see you're free from being called Remmy." Snape said "You must tell me what spell you used on her to achieve it."  
  
But the "spell" used was so obviously shown by her sudden furious blushing that even Snape found the situation embarrassing.  
  
Luckily there was a knock on the door ("Alohomora!") and in came Professor Dumbledore.  
  
"Oh, we're having a tea party, are we?" he said, his eyes twinkling behind his half moon spectacles.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore" said Ellie, looking very pleased (and utterly relieved) to see him."Please, come in!"  
  
Lupin quickly looked away from Snape, who was looking murderous.  
  
"We're not having tea, but I can conjure it if you like" she said.  
  
"Thank you, Ellie, that would be nice." And taking the cups she had just conjured, they all drank in silence. Ellie was still feeling rather hot, and kept avoiding both Snape and Lupin's eyes. "This is just lovely" said Dumbledore, breaking the silence "I trust this is not some potion I should fear" and his twinkling eyes made her smile and less nervous. "Yet, I have not come for this. I brought you something, Ellie." and he took a thin tube from his robes.  
  
"You have it, then!" she said, dropping her cup.  
  
"Yes, I have it" said Professor Dumbledore, making the tea cup disappear before it smashed on the floor, and smiled. "It's not quite as easy has it used to be. Phoenix tears." he added, seeing the puzzled look on Lupin's face. "I had to tell Fawkes a really good joke this time to make him cry out laughing."  
  
"Phoenix tears?" Lupin said at last.  
  
"You didn't use Phoenix tears on the potion, Ellie" said Snape, frowning even more than Lupin.  
  
"Well, no, I didn't" she said, taking the thin tube from Dumbledore's hands "But that's not the only potion I can make, is it?"  
  
"Phoenix tears are very dangerous ingredients." said Snape, looking really dangerous himself. Ellie knew he had understood what the tears were for. "You know that, Ellie, don't you?" and it wasn't a question.  
  
"Dear Ellie" said Dumbledore suddenly "I must ask you to forgive me but it is time for me to leave. For us to leave" and he looked at Snape. "We have a lot to arrange for the beginning of the school year. I still have to see some candidates for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post. Take care, Ellie. It was a pleasure to see you again, Remus." He opened the door and looked at Snape "Coming, Severus?"  
  
Snape didn't look much like going. He was still looking very intensely at Lupin, as if trying to read something in his eyes.  
  
"Coming, Headmaster" he said at last. He glanced at Ellie to say goodbye, but, not only no words came out, he also had a deeply cold look in his face. He turned round and they both Desapparated. 


	6. Chapter VI The Risks

Chapter VI - The Risks  
  
Ellie took a deep breath and closed the door. Now it was Lupin who was looking at her very closely.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
"What did Severus mean by dangerous ingredient?"  
  
"Oh that!" and she waved her hand "That's just Sevy, you know him!" She took some papers from the table, but she knew Lupin's eyes were still on her.  
  
"Why do you need it? I know Severus figured it out and he wasn't pleased."  
  
"Oh, well" and she mumbled something, still reading the papers, not noticing some of them were upside down.  
  
"Ellie, look at me." He took her gently by her arm and looked deeply into her eyes. "I know what phoenix tears are for. They have healing powers." She tried to avoid his eyes "You're not going to use it in a potion, are you? Look at me." Unable to keep avoiding him, she gave in. He had such beautiful eyes! She always loved his eyes... They seemed to show how strong and fragile his soul was. "It's for you, isn't it?" came his voice again. "Ellie, I won't let you stay."  
  
She seemed to find her voice again.  
  
"It's not your call!" and she actually freed her arm. "Yes, it's for me. I have to be present when you test the potion to make sure it's working. I have to know what's going on. I have to-"  
  
"I quit, then." he said very suddenly "I won't let you take that risk! I won't let you stand by me while I'm transforming! It's too dangerous!"  
  
She lost her voice again, looking flabbergasted. She mouthed wordlessly and then...  
  
"Fine!" she said, almost shouting, very much unlike her and looking positively furious! "Quit if you want to! Give up and go home! Why not? Be a monster all your life! Aaaargh!! What did you think testing meant, you... you... " and, unable to insult him properly, she went storming into the lab. Two seconds later she returned, pointing her finger very threateningly at his face "I always knew the risks I had to take! Do you think inventing a potion is just some mix-up of ingredients? This is not cooking, you know? You have to test it! Watch how it works! Have some kind of antidote ready in case something goes wrong. You have to check for signs of poisoning, for unexpected results...! This is potion making! It's not some milk shake receipt! Why do you think there are so few of us, inventors?" And she looked very testingly at Lupin " And why do you think it took so long for someone to do this kind of potion? Do you think I finally made it because I'm a genius?... or because nobody cared before?"  
  
He was very shocked to see her that angry. But she didn't seem to care. She was blurting out things that were stuck inside her for far too long.  
  
"Nobody cared for curing or treating werewolves because nobody cares about werewolves! All the potion makers I've met trying something connected with werewolves are developing poisons! Ways to kill you! Nobody wants to see you living! That's why nobody ever even tried to invent this potion! I was kicked out of the Potion Making Convention three years ago just for suggesting this! I've received letters from the Ministry of Magic warning me, or threatening me, about the things I said at the Convention! I have been banished from the Confederation of Potion Makers!" she said acidly "all because of this little potion here that interferes with the natural and organized world of wizards, where creatures like giants, vampires and werewolves are not supposed to be treated as humans, are supposed to be killed !!!"  
  
She took a deep breath and said in a calmer, but even more dangerously voice "And you're telling me you can't let me take the risks?"  
  
There was an awkward silence. Lupin was looking deeply shocked. "Banished?" he said slowly. "I had no idea..." he was looking rather pale. "And all because of..."  
  
"Of this potion, yes, that you don't want to try because I could get hurt. Remus, getting hurt is nothing next to the hope of seeing you safe. The mere hope was worth all of it. That hope gave me strength when I couldn't find a job at the simplest places these last couple of years. That hope gave me strength when close colleagues walked away and eventually stopped owling me. It gave me hope to come back here, to my old place, starting a new life away from Hogsmeade, because some of the potion makers there kept looking at me as if I had some contagious disease. Severus is the only potion maker I'm still in touch with."  
  
"I'm sorry, Ellie." said Lupin, very quietly. "I know how that feels." He had been banished half his life for being a werewolf. But that was something he couldn't help. But she was someone who could help from being banished (all she had to do was forget all about the Wolfsbane potion) and yet... she didn't quit and made it till the end. All alone. Yet she had made it.  
  
"Are you sure phoenix tears will be enough?" he asked.  
  
"I have other potions that will be ready by that time. But phoenix tears are usually very effective."  
  
"Ellie..." and he looked her deeply admiring her but also very concerned "I don't want you to get hurt."  
  
"And I want you to be safe."  
  
He took her hand and said "I don't know how to thank you". And she felt his warm and gentle lips on her hand.  
  
"Oh well", she said to herself that night, long after he'd left, "the kiss was right, only the place was wrong..." 


	7. Chapter VII The First Taste

Chapter VII - The First Taste  
  
Two weeks had passed. Ellie had been busy most of the time brewing anti- poison potions and all kinds of antidotes in case anything failed and keeping all silver out of the way. She had been so busy she didn't even notice Snape's unusual silence.  
  
She had to clean her house as well. Especially the little room in which Lupin would be sleeping during the experiment's time. They had settled that two weeks before the full moon should be enough for him to start taking the potion, daily. She was going for a full month, but she was afraid the dose might be a little high.  
  
And so, that morning, Lupin arrived quite early, with a small, battered suitcase.  
  
"And here's where you'll be staying." she said, opening a door he had never noticed before.  
  
"Have I walked in the right house?" he asked with a smile.  
  
"I know, I know, it's all so clean-"  
  
"And you can actually see the tiles of the floor!"  
  
"Appreciate them while you can. This won't last more than a week!" and she gave him a very nasty look.  
  
He walked into the room, drooped his case and looked around. So this is where he would be transforming next full moon. It reminded him of the Shrieking Shack, where he had been for 7 years, with its grey and cold empty walls.  
  
"Have you had any breakfast yet?" he heard Ellie's voice.  
  
"I'm not hungry." he replied, and left the room, to join her at the kitchen.  
  
"Well," she said when he had seated "when do you want to start?"  
  
"Is there any best time to take it?"  
  
"As long as you drink it once a day... You should eat something, you know?" and she offered him some tea and toasts.  
  
"Maybe just some tea, then. Do you think I could try it now?"  
  
And Ellie just said "Finish your tea, then, and I'll go get it."  
  
She went to the lab and looked at the twelve little cauldrons she had now with the Wolfsbane potion. She took a glass from a very clean and beautiful shelf and filled it with the potion.  
  
"Here it is" and she gave him the glass.  
  
He looked at it quite suspiciously. Then he drank it in one shot.  
  
He drooped the glass and let out a horrible "Aaargh!"  
  
"Remus!" she cried at the site of his contorted face.  
  
"Disgusting!!!" he said and looked at her alarmed face "What? It's just disgusting. The taste, I mean."  
  
She let out a long sigh and looked at him, still shaking. He noticed she had brought another glass, filled with some blood-red liquid.  
  
"I though you had complete confidence in your work." he said, smiling again. "Glass reparus." and he put the glass on the table.  
  
"You never know... something could have gone wrong... and you could have been..." she quickly took the red filled glass to the lab and he noticed she was still very nervous.  
  
"You have to monitor me now, is it?" he asked when she returned from the lab.  
  
"Yes" and she blushed slightly. "I think I should start now, actually. Let's see, " and she took a piece of parchment from a drawer and kept looking for something while talking. "What do you feel?"  
  
"Hum... good I guess."  
  
"No dizziness, no blurring vision, no stars dancing in front of your eyes?" she asked, looking inside a jar.  
  
"Nope. Nothing."  
  
"Hearing voices-"  
  
"Only yours."  
  
"Hallucinations..." she lifted the plates from the table.  
  
"Are you looking for something?"  
  
"A quill" and she looked under the table.  
  
"I don't know if I'm hallucinating, but here's one" Ellie emerged from under the table.  
  
"Oh, thanks. I was looking for it!" she took it and started writing on the parchment "July 25, 1987 1st potion: 9:35 a.m. No weird symptoms. No apparent changes. Looking good."  
  
"I'm looking good, am I? That's good to know."  
  
"The experiment is looking good. You look just the same."  
  
"Oh." and he made a very offended sort of look.  
  
"Let me check the rest of you."  
  
"What do you want to check?" he asked in mock outrage.  
  
"Everything. Take your clothes off. No, no, no, I'm just kidding!" she added hastly "I just need to check your pupils." and before he took her first idea seriously, she took a magnifying glass from her pocket and looked very deeply at his eyes.  
  
Suppressing the effect his eyes always had on her, she said "Your pupils seem fine. You can see a lot in pupils. Very closed pupils are usually a sign of poisoning."  
  
She wrote "pupils fine" on the parchment and finally seated again, looking at him. "I though I would be feeling something different. But aside from the taste, it's just like drinking water."  
  
"You won't be feeling anything for almost two weeks, if everything goes right."  
  
"And what do we do now?"  
  
"You can settle yourself in your room. I have to check on a flea-repellent potion."  
  
"Oh, those dark creatures are back."  
  
"Yeah, I made it for some lunatic old man but he says it was great and wants some more. As long as he as galleons, I'm here for it. The ingredients aren't that cheap, you know. And I still have to earn some to live. Anyway, I have to make him enough to last for a couple of months. I won't have much time for potion making. I have to check on you, now."  
  
Lupin suddenly remembered that brewing potions was what she did for living. It had never occurred to him that potions and time making them cost money.  
  
"Don't worry" she said, looking at his worried face "I know my house doesn't seem much, but I still got the galleons for us to survive for the next couple of months."  
  
"You're investing on this potion from your own pocket?"  
  
"I really have to check on that potion. Why don't you... hum... settle yourself?" and she almost ran to the lab.  
  
Lupin was beginning to understand all that was at stake for her in that little experiment. She had put in it her money, her work, her career, her life. She had put everything she owned, everything she had and everything she was in that potion. He looked at the glass again, this time in a whole new light.  
  
He had never tasted anyone's dream before. 


	8. Chapter VIII Full Moon

Chapter VIII - The Full Moon  
  
For almost two weeks, Lupin drank the potion daily, always making the same disgusted face and eventually asking Ellie to add some sugar on it.  
  
"Sorry, Remus, but sugar makes it completely useless." Ellie would say, and he had to drink it just as it was, mumbling "I sure hope this works, Ellie, or I might strangle you." which she always found amusing. However, she could not hide from herself the every day the full moon got closer and every day she felt more nervous.  
  
She could tell he was just as anxious as she was, though he could hide it more effectively.  
  
During that time, she kept bumping "are you feeling alright?" at him at unexpected times, to make sure he wasn't hiding something. But she knew, from her own observations, that he seemed just the same.  
  
It was the eve of the full moon night. They were dinning in the small kitchen some mashed potatoes Lupin had made and a very tasty would-be-steak made of vegetables. She could tell he wasn't pleased with the steaks, but still he tried to eat the lot with a smile upon his face.  
  
"Are you nervous?" asked Ellie after a long silence.  
  
"I am." he said without thinking. "I think I've never been so frightened about a coming full moon. It's strange because I know all that can happen is that either I transform into a monster... or I don't. For the first time there is hope that I keep my mind, but that seems to scare me more than the full transformation has for years."  
  
Ellie didn't reply at once.  
  
"I'm a little anxious, too." she said at last. "But I know everything will go fine."  
  
And they sat there, talking through the night about everything except the coming moon.  
  
***  
  
Next morning, Ellie gave Lupin his glass right after breakfast. He drank without a word. He helped her repot some weird plants she had at the back of the garden, and after lunch they decided to stay and play a bit of wizard chess. By 5 o'clock, Ellie started to check and double check everything that would be needed because the moon would rise in about an hour's time.  
  
"I've checked everything" she said.  
  
"Have you got the... tears?"  
  
She nodded. They didn't eat at all, they were too nervous, and so, at a quarter to six, he entered his room. Ellie stayed at the door. They had agreed that he would be locked until she could tell it was safe. And if it wasn't safe, she had the phoenix tears inside her robes.  
  
"Ellie..."  
  
"Go" she said "everything will be fine. I'll see you in a moment."  
  
He looked at her as if it was the last time he'd see her and nodded. She locked the room. Any moment now, he would be starting his transformation.  
  
She waited and heard him pacing around the room. The sun was setting and the full moon was rising. He kept pacing. Ellie kept listening. Any moment now...  
  
He stopped pacing... and Ellie felt her heart sink.  
  
Then a horrible cry came from inside the room.  
  
"Remus!" and she felt an urge to unlock the door. She grabbed the key but stood still, unable to do it. Another cry. She took the tube with the phoenix tears and opened the door.  
  
Remus was screaming again. He was almost transformed. He didn't look remotely like a man. She had never seen him like this before. He was curling in a corner, scratching himself anxiously, and growling. Ellie took a deep breath and a step forward.  
  
"Remus" she called. There was a wolf now where the man had been. "Remus, can you hear me?"  
  
The wolf stood up and looked threateningly at her. His eyes were not as beautiful as Lupin's, but there was still something his in them. She stood there, certain that he would attack her, and certain that it had worked. She was shaking in uncertainty and fear.  
  
"Remus" she tried again, and she felt her eyes were washing in tears "Remus, can you hear me? Are you alright?"  
  
The wolf didn't take his eyes off her and walked at her side. It seemed that he wanted to do something but wasn't sure how to do it. He finally laid his head against Ellie's robes. And she knew she had made it.  
  
She passed her fingers through his fur, gently, in caring gestures, guided by all the love she felt. He seemed to like it: he growled as if he was a cat purring.  
  
Ellie spent the night with him, feeling his soft fur between her fingers, and he actually fell asleep on her lap.  
  
She had made it.  
  
***  
  
It was nearly six in the morning. She hadn't had any sleep at all, taking care of Remus. The moon was nearly setting. He was still sleeping when the first sunshine rays entered through the door.  
  
He woke up and looked at her. But right at that moment, the moon should be setting because he shrugged, stepped away from her and started howling. He was in pain, and she didn't know what to do. Before she had time to think, his fur began to shrink, and his paws slowly turned to hands, and his hears shortened... In what seemed like no time at all, it was all over.  
  
"Remus!" she cried, kneeling at his side. Remus was lying on the ground, looking pale and exhausted. She took him in her arms and embraced him. He was so cold... "Oh, Remus, please tell me you're alright."  
  
He opened his eyes very slowly and gave her a grateful look. She took him on to the bed and gave him to drink from a tube she took from her robes. He drank and closed his eyes again. In less than two minutes he fell asleep. Ellie never left his bedside. And by noon, when he woke up, she was the first thing he recognised.  
  
"Ellie..."  
  
"Don't try to speak just yet. Are you thirsty?"  
  
He nodded and she gave him some water. He drank as if he had never had any in his life. Then he rolled over to get closer to her (she was sitting on the bed) and laid his head on her lap.  
  
"Than-k you" was all he could say.  
  
Ellie kissed his forehead and felt a tear on her hand. Remus kissed her hand and before she could stop him, he raised himself and embraced her. She wanted to say "Remus, you should lie down. You shouldn't make quick moves. You should rest." But all she managed to say was "Remus" before his lips silenced her with a kiss - a long gentle kiss which was followed by another and another and another. Ellie felt almost dizzy with the warmth of his lips. He kissed her neck and she could feel his hands searching for her body beneath the robes.  
  
She seemed to be discovering her senses all over again: he smelled like passion, he tasted like lust, he felt like hunger and he looked so perfect. She was breathing faster and letting out sounds of pleasure, inebriating his hears.  
  
It was like a wave of the ocean, filling her and embracing her. It was like a warm breeze taking over her, heating her skin with every touch. It was like being touched by the sun, his long beautiful fingers rushing through her hair, scanning every pore of her skin, burning in passionate love.  
  
She felt like the whole universe had been created for the sole purpose of that moment and that suddenly everything made sense: the world had stopped but they were more alive than ever.  
  
And during those moments lost in time, they weren't Ellie and Remus: they were just one body and just one soul. 


	9. Chapter IX The Secret

Chapter IX - The Secret  
  
When Ellie woke up, the sun had sat and there were candles lit all over the room. Remus had gone, and she went to look for him when there was a knock on the door. She quickly dressed her robes to answer it.  
  
It was Snape. Apparently he was as surprised to see her as she was to see him. She had no time to think about the reason of it because he quickly got to the point.  
  
"I'm sorry to come this late, Ellie, but I'm afraid it couldn't wait."  
  
"It's okay" she said, indicating the living room. Snape entered, casting a look around.  
  
"What have you done to your house? It's clean." but he seemed to be looking for something rather than appreciating the cleanness.  
  
"What did you want to talk to me about?"  
  
He looked particularly grave.  
  
"The Ministry is aware some illegal potion has been used here."  
  
Ellie certainly didn't expect this.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Fudge sent an owl to Dumbledore, asking for advice and the Headmaster called me at once."  
  
"But I've been using it for two weeks! Why now?"  
  
"You're already trying it, then?" and Snape didn't look pleased.  
  
"We've sorted all out" she said quickly, with pink cheeks "and Remus has been taking it for the last two weeks."  
  
"And tonight was a full moon." Snape added, looking her very closely.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, did it work?" he asked impatiently.  
  
"Yes, it worked."  
  
Snape was torn between the pleasure of knowing she had done it and the hatred that consumed him everytime he thought of what that meant. His greatest rival had always been the shadow of an impossible love, but he could read it in her face that that was no longer true. If any hope rested inside his skin it was quickly ripped off by Remus entering wrapped only in a towel, his wet hair revealing as much as his stunned face.  
  
"I'm sorry" he said, walking to the bedroom door "I didn't know we were not alone." And he didn't avoid Snape's eyes this time. In fact, it was Snape the one who looked away, at Ellie, before Remus entered the room.  
  
"Sevy" she said, but he lifted a hand, stopping her.  
  
"We have a lot more important matters at hand." he said. She looked embarrassed. She had never realised their past hadn't been forgotten. at least by him. But Severus was talking again. "The fact remains that the Ministry is ready to take the adequate measures to stop you. You know they will never allow you to register the potion. For one thing, you're not in the Confederation anymore. And for the other because you know werewolves are not taken as real wizards but as monsters. The Wolfsbane potion will remain illegal and now that they know about it they'll confiscate it."  
  
"But how did they find out?"  
  
"You know the Ministry has detectors for any illegal activity." He waved his hand impatiently. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"We?"  
  
"I'm here to help you" he said darkly "unless you want me to leave."  
  
"Oh, Sevy!"  
  
"In that case we should move quickly. Dumbledore has asked Fudge to meet him at Hogwarts. That should give us enough time."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"To hide the potion-"  
  
"They'll find it!" she interrupted.  
  
"To hide the potion with the Fidelius Charm."  
  
Her silence indicated him she had never heard of it.  
  
"The Fidelius Charm hides a piece of information inside a person. As long as that person refuses to reveal the information, nobody will be able to learn it."  
  
"You mean. nobody will find out where the potion is hiding if that's the information concealed?"  
  
"Exactly, Ellie."  
  
"And. the person?"  
  
"It's called the secret keeper" Remus said. He had entered the room, properly dressed, his hair still wet.  
  
"You know this spell?" she asked.  
  
"I do." his voice quivered "That's the spell James used to hide the information of where he, Lily and the baby were hiding."  
  
There was a very dark silence and Remus was the first to speak again.  
  
"You should not perform it unless you're absolutely sure you can trust your secret keeper."  
  
"Who was James secr-" but she suddenly understood. She was away when she heard about James and Lily, and that Sirius betrayal story was very confusing, but everything made sense, now. And Remus was right. Sirius was the last person she would ever think that could betray James.  
  
She looked uneasy at Severus.  
  
"If you have any other idea, Lupin, I'll be glad to hear it." said Snape with a snarl.  
  
The two of them were eyeing each other with loath.  
  
Ellie decided to break the silence.  
  
"You're right, Sevy, there's not much time. What do we have to do?"  
  
"You have to decide who your secret keeper is" he was still looking at Remus. "The Headmaster sent me here believing I was the right choice, but if you have anyone else in mind."  
  
They were looking murderous.  
  
"You're the one who knows the spell, you be my secret keeper."  
  
None of them seemed to be expecting this. Severus was looking at her deeply stunned and Remus was horrified. He knew Snape wouldn't betray Ellie, but since the matter involved him, Remus, he wasn't sure it was safe.  
  
"Ellie." he began to say. But she cut the conversation turning to Severus and saying "We must hurry. The Ministry men can be here any moment."  
  
"I need not telling you we should be alone for the spell to work." Severus added, with a pleasant smile. Now, he was enjoying bulling Remus.  
  
"You need not say another word." said Remus, nearly squashing a running beetle as he turned to return to his room. 


	10. Chapter X The Ministry Agents

Chapter X - The Ministry Agents  
  
There was a knock on the door. Remus didn't say anything. The door opened anyway.  
  
"Remus. are you ok?" Ellie asked walking in.  
  
"Where's Snape?" he asked without turning. He was seated on the bed.  
  
"He left." Ellie noticed that music was playing. It was coming from a little radio on his hands. "What is this?"  
  
"Mozart."  
  
"Oh." she sounded surprised "I didn't know you liked muggle music."  
  
"Mozart? He was a wizard." he said turning to her "Didn't you know?" Ellie shook her head. "Well, he was. Quite a good one, actually. He always used his wizard's wand in concerts, instead of his conductor's baton. This is 'The Magic Flute'. The name really turns him in." he said smiling "And there's a character here, Papagueno, who is based on a friend of his who was an Animagus."  
  
"Really?" and she smiled too. "You never cease to surprise me. That must be why I love you so much."  
  
These words seemed to cheer Remus up. She kissed him and he actually smiled at her.  
  
"Are you sure you can trust Severus?" he said after a while.  
  
"I would trust him with my life."  
  
"Don't say that" Remus replied gravely. "Last time I heard that..." and he couldn't bring himself to say it. He wanted to warn her of what had happened to James, who trusted Sirius with his life too, but it was too painful.  
  
But Ellie understood. She also wanted to ask him what had really happened but seeing his face she decided it would be best to change the subject.  
  
"How about some dinner? I'm starving!"  
  
***  
  
Remus seemed to have forgotten all about Snape and the Fidelius Charm. Their dinner was as romantic as it could possibly be. Remus had set the table on the living room while she was cooking and when she saw it, there were two little candles on a bowl of water on the centre of the table, casting a very beautiful light in the walls.  
  
They seemed a young recently married couple on honeymoon who couldn't get enough about each other, and she had just made something with the dinner's sauce that made Remus flush (and which I'm not going to tell you, in case there are some young people about) when there was a knock on the door.  
  
With all the playing and kissing it was almost midnight. She stood up, looking at him, very apprehensively. The door knocked again.  
  
She opened the door and two wizards stood there and took a look inside. Then one of them looked at her and gave a very horrible smile.  
  
"Miss Wood... How nice it is to see you." he said. He was a tall and thin man, with very short brown hair and wearing sunglasses, even though it was night. His twisted smile showed them he was having fun with the whole business. He entered and made a gesture to the other wizard, who was not as thin and with a very rigid face (he was also wearing sunglasses).  
  
"Miss Wood," the man said again "my name is Smith... warlock Smith." and his smile widened as if his name alone was something to dread "and as you are probably aware we come from the Ministry of Magic." he spoke very slowly, clearly enjoying every word. "Our business is to check for any illegal activity and it is unfortunate that we have come to your place tonight." He looked very pleased, actually.  
  
The other wizard just stood there, like a bodyguard.  
  
"This" and he took a roll of parchment from inside his robes "is an official call from the Ministry... which I will read to you, since you look so busy" and he smiled very wickedly at Remus' robes. " 'By the order of the Ministry of Magic, the person of Ellie Wood is to be taken for hearing to the said Ministry about illegal activities detected at place of residence. The two agents who deliver this letter' " and he smiled again "that's us, 'will be in charge of the security of the suspect until the arrival at the hearing.' Signed by everyone you could think of and the Minister himself" and he looked at her again "and you can check it if you want to, although I think it would be best if you just took your things and follow us."  
  
Ellie was looking terrified. She thought they would come to check on the house and, since they wouldn't be able to find anything, they would just leave. She never thought they would take her!  
  
Remus took the letter from the warlock Smith's hands and read it, trying to find something illegal that would prevent them from taking her. But that didn't happen. In fact, they were the ones who had "illegal activities" to respond for.  
  
Ellie was looking at Remus for some hope, but all he could do was say that he would not leave her. A second later, he had his wand with him and was set go with them as well.  
  
"I'm sorry" said warlock Smith again, looking like if his birthday had come earlier "but the orders are to take Miss Wood alone."  
  
"I'll meet you there, Ellie, don't worry." said Remus, kissing her. "Everything will be alright" he whispered between kisses "I'll be with you. I'll meet you there, you hear me?"  
  
And so he did, for he desapparated right after they did. 


	11. Chapter XI The Hearing

Chapter XI - The Hearing  
  
The Ministry warlocks had been some sadistic bastards who made her wait for the Minister for almost 5 hours. And now Ellie was hearing Cornelius Fudge she hoped she was still waiting because at least then she had Remus by her side. And by the look of it, this wasn't a hearing at all, it was a talking!  
  
Fudge was talking non-stop for 2 hours, pointing out her life at Hogwarts and her achievements while she was still at the Confederation of Potion Makers. That she had lost so much already, like being expelled (something he must have repeated at least 10 times during the conversation) and it was a shame she was trying to brew illegal potions. At long last, he seemed to open the line for dialog.  
  
"Miss Wood, surely you understand the seriousness of the matter."  
  
"With all due respect, Minister, actually I don't really see what could be so wrong about trying to make werewolves less monsters."  
  
Fudge seemed affronted by her attitude.  
  
"Miss Wood, I will not deny that we already had our suspicions on what that illegal potion was, but I am astounded that you insist on doing it! Your fellows from the Confederation, or your former fellows, may I add, are asking me for your skin, and I'm trying to save you from a holiday season at Azkaban, but apparently I'm not getting through you!"  
  
"Minister, I have destroyed the potion." she said before he could carry on with his fury.  
  
"Destroyed?" he seemed astounded "Ha- have you really?"  
  
"I never hided that I wanted to make this, but Dumbledore sent me a message saying you might have in mind sending me to Azkaban... and I realized I had lost. I cannot go against the Ministry, can I? So I destroyed the potion and there's nothing left of it."  
  
Fudge was thinking hard. Finally he said "Well, in that case, if you can assure me you have destroyed it, you can go. I'll send two Confederation wizards to check on it... and if it's true, no harm done."  
  
***  
  
"He said that?" said Remus when Ellie told him the whole story.  
  
"Yes, and since Severus assured me that they will look inside the cauldron and think it's some kind of soup, I don't think we should worry about it again."  
  
They apparated at her house and right in time to hear the door knock. It was morning already, but they hadn't had any sleep at all. Ellie was not pleased.  
  
"What's wrong with this place? I must have an anti-knocking spell on this, or we won't be able to get any sleep!"  
  
She opened the door to a blonde witch carrying a crocodile handbag and a very twisted smile.  
  
"Rita Skeeter, from the Daily Prophet" she said, entering the house. She took no time in finding a place to sit and retrieving some parchment and a quill from her handbag, which she placed over the table.  
  
"Testing... " she said "My name is Rita Skeeter."  
  
The quill immediately wrote something on the parchment and she seemed satisfied for she looked at Ellie again.  
  
Ellie was so surprised she realised she was still holding the door open. Remus looked as surprised as she was.  
  
"Miss Wood, I was wondering if you'd care to tell me your reactions on today's newspaper."  
  
"What newspaper?"  
  
"Today's Daily Prophet! Don't you have it?"  
  
"Oh. No." and Rita gave her a copy. She seemed to have guessed that they hadn't had time for it because she gave Remus another one as well.  
  
Ellie drooped her jaw.  
  
"Ellie Wood, former member of the Confederation for Potion Makers, was seen today at the Ministry of Magic by the Minister himself for conducting experiments on an illegal potion that will make werewolves harmless, writes special correspondent Rita Skeeter. Accordingly to some members of the Confederation, she had been trying to do it for quite sometime and that was the reason behind her expulsion, although at the time the whole matter was hushed behind some other pathetic excuse like "not paying her dues". Miss Wood had already been banished from the Potion Making Convention of 1984, held in London, where she exposed her ridiculous ideas about werewolves being men imprisoned inside wolves every month. She had even made a joke about how every woman would seem more dangerous every moon than werewolves, if they could have help. Being one of the few women on the stand, this was not taken lightly, although Mrs. Rowena Goshind broke in laughter, saying she felt like a werewolf herself once a month. Being expelled now is not an option, since Miss Wood has already been kicked out of everything she could, and the Ministry may try to consider having her in Azkaban for at least a week."  
  
"How could you write this?!" Ellie said right after she regained her voice again.  
  
"Well, the public has the right to know. But why don't you tell me your side of the story? How do you feel about werewolves? You don't need to tell me how you feel about all of them." and she smiled at Remus.  
  
Ellie seemed annoyed.  
  
"I don't think I'll be telling you anything." she said acidly.  
  
She noticed that the quill was writing madly.  
  
"Are you sure you don't want to tell me your side of the story?"  
  
But before Ellie could answer there was yet another knock on the door. This time it was the Confederation wizards who had come to check on the potion. One of them was a young man she had never met (probably a new member) and the other was Snape!  
  
"Miss Wood" he said "we have come to check on an illegal potion that was reported to be made here."  
  
Ellie understood it would be best if she pretended they hadn't spoken for years. He certainly seemed to be playing that game, and by the look of the young wizard, it should be what people believed.  
  
Rita Skeeter, however, was delighted to see Snape.  
  
"Prof. Severus Snape! I don't think there would be anyone better for this job!" and she was smiling broadly. Snape didn't answer.  
  
"Can we have a look at the cauldrons?" he asked.  
  
"Certainly." said Ellie, leading them to the lab. "As I have already told the Minister, I have disposed it and there is nothing left." then looking at Rita Skeeter following them she looked at Remus and said "Remus, would you entertain Miss Skeeter while I'm busy? Maybe you could show her the door?"  
  
Rita Skeeter looked inside the lab and smiled "Interesting as your door might be, I can tell when I'm not wanted." she packed the parchment and quill inside her bag again "Maybe we could do this another time? It was a pleasure to see you all." And she left.  
  
Severus kept his part extremely well. For almost 20 minutes he checked everything along with the other wizard and they were passing by the Wolfsbane cauldron when-  
  
"Hey!" said the young wizard "What's this?"  
  
Ellie turned to see him looking at the cauldron where there was some flea- repellent potion left. She tried not to look so relieved.  
  
"It's a flea-repellent potion. I've only perfected it."  
  
"I thought so!" he said with a smile. He checked that Snape was out of sight, looking at other cauldrons, and said in a hush voice "Say, can you sell me some? My rat has a terrible problem with fleas and I've tried to curse them and everything, but they keep coming back. It's a nightmare."  
  
"Sure, I'll give you some. Let me find a bottle." she took a bottle from a shelve, taking a beetle from the glass near it, and asked him "But, why haven't you tried the Repelus potion?"  
  
The young wizard flushed and said very quickly "I'm not very fond of spiders. I can make any potion you want, as long as it doesn't have spiders. But don't tell anyone. You won't will you?"  
  
"Of course not." She drooped a bit of the potion in the bottle and handed it to him, who quickly took it in his robes before Snape could see.  
  
"Miss Wood, we haven't found anything that resembled an illegal potion." said Snape at last. "I'm sure you have disposed of it. However..." he took his wand "we must check for hidden potions now. Aparate!" and he pointed the wand at the lab. Ellie's heart trembled for a moment. Then a small tube shown on the table. Everyone gathered around. Snape grabbed it and read "Spider webs".  
  
"Oh," said Ellie, looking more relieved than she could hide. "Thanks! I was looking for that!" 


	12. Chapter XII Wanderings with Werewolves

Chapter XII - Wandering with Werewolves  
  
Ellie and Remus were now having a proper honeymoon. They hadn't been bothered again by the Ministry, their horrible agents or even by the newspapers for a whole week.  
  
Occasionally, Ellie would take a piece of parchment and write some numbers and symbols, but Remus would soon distract her enough to drop it, by kissing her ears, scrambling her hair or merely looking at her with his big beautiful eyes.  
  
One day, when he couldn't distract her anyway he tried, he eventually asked what she was doing.  
  
"I noticed your transformation was very painful" she said in a matter-of- fact tone "So I'm trying to find a way to relieve you from the pain. I though of adding some luxcrab, but that wouldn't work because they are very spicy and it would probably ruin all the gillyweed effect. Then I thought of- What?" He was looking at her, smiling.  
  
"You are so special, Ellie. Why didn't I see it before? Your brightness, your kindness, your beauty... Why did it take me so long?"  
  
She smiled back. "Oh, no you don't, buddy. Don't you even try it. I told you I really have to concentrate today. I have only one week to add it to the potion before you start your cycle again. So don't you try to distract me."  
  
"I'm serious. You really are special... And I'm really dumb."  
  
"Well, I'll study a donkeysbane potion next week, shall I? Now I really have to get this done."  
  
He laughed and, kissing her forehead, headed to the garden door.  
  
***  
  
Two days before new moon, Ellie was already adding some new ingredients to one of the cauldrons.  
  
"Yes, this should do the trick. I don't know why I didn't think about it before."  
  
"What's this suppose to be?" he asked taking a very sluggish something from the tray.  
  
"I'd better not tell you. You might throw up. Anyway, if all goes well, the potion will turn red after I add the last ingredients, and tomorrow it will have turned back to its original color. That's the sign that it has been incorporated and that you can start taking it."  
  
Remus, however, noticed she was as nervous as in the first experiment.  
  
They had a quiet breakfast, apart from the fact that he kept throwing her berries trying to hit the small space between her robes and her neck, and, right after he'd made his first score ("Now come and get it" she said with a kinky smile), a barn owl arrived, carrying the post. She grabbed the letter. It was for Remus.  
  
He looked at it, and sighed.  
  
"I told them I would have my holidays now."  
  
"Told who?" she asked.  
  
"I work for a bookstore near Glasgow." Ellie looked surprised. "Yes," he smiled "I have found a paid work. A great job actually. I read the recently published books and give them an opinion about them. It has helped the sales a lot. They usually love my reviews."  
  
"I didn't know that. That sounds great. I know you love to read."  
  
"It is great. I get to read all sort of stuff, and it's really fun."  
  
"Do they know-"  
  
"No." he said quickly "And they won't if I can help it. Imagine, a werewolf reviewing books. They'd probably think I'd try and get the dark arts to sell more or something. There really is a lot of prejudice around. But since I don't have to go to the store, they don't even suspect."  
  
"I didn't know you had a job. Well, well. What else don't I know about you?" she asked in mocked offended look.  
  
"Aaah, the mysteries I hide" he said smiling.  
  
"Let me see if I can find another one." she said, sitting on his lap and looking behind his hears. "Nope. Hummm... maybe here." and she looked down his robes "Well, no surprises there." And she started kissing his neck and teasing him "Humm... maybe here... or here... or perhaps here?"  
  
In less than a minute they had lost all notion that the letter laid on the table, still unopened.  
  
***  
  
By lunch time, when Ellie entered the kitchen she noticed the letter again.  
  
"Remus, you forgot to open the letter." she called.  
  
He walked in and grabbed it.  
  
"I shouldn't, you know. They probably want to send me something. I'm in no mood for reviewing."  
  
"Of course you are, Remus. You love to read."  
  
"Oh, all right. Since there is nothing interesting to do while I'm here" and he winked at her. He opened the letter and drooped it almost immediately.  
  
"What?" she asked.  
  
He grabbed it from the floor and looked at it, confused and flabbergasted.  
  
"What?!" she asked again. She took the letter from his hands and understood. She too was shocked by the news. It wasn't a book they wanted him to review. It was a magazine article.  
  
"'Wanderings with werewolves', the most recently published work of famous wizard Gilderoy Lockhart, has just been released, for the delightment of all his fans around the world. In this new book he tells the stories of several places where he met these dreadful monsters and of his battle against the dark arts. He also lets us in his world a bit more, telling us about his personal life and some little secrets of his heart, like his ideal birthday gift. The bookstores were filled with witches and wizards from all over the place buying this very expected book and thousands of owls have delivered it all over the country to people who had pre-ordered from our magazine. Since everyone says we should ask for advice for those who understand the matter, our magazine is currently trying to contact Mr. Remus Lupin, a known book reviewer who happens to be a werewolf himself, to give us an honest opinion on this already best-seller." The article was signed by Rita Skeeter.  
  
And attached was the note: "You need not come back by the end of your holidays".  
  
"How could she?!" asked Ellie, enraged.  
  
Remus didn't answer. He seemed to have lost all the ability to speak.  
  
"That... that... cow!! How could she?! I'll kill her" Ellie was punching the air in rage. "She must have been so mad at us for not giving her the interview she just... Aaaargh! Say something!" But Remus kept quiet. He was starting to feel a buzz in his hears and hoped that he was only dreaming and that he hadn't been publicly exposed and that he hadn't lost his job... again.  
  
Ellie was so angry she didn't even hear the clock ringing. Remus seemed to have wake up. He looked at her and said "Ellie, isn't the clock ringing because you need to add something to the potion?" How could he be talking about the potion?! Then he stood up and walked to the garden.  
  
Ellie drank a glass of water and entered the lab. She had to calm down. He needed her to be calm. And she had to add the last leeches. In the rush of going to him and try to help him in something, anything, to relieve the pain he must be feeling, she drooped one of them on the floor.  
  
And when she left the lab the potion turned dark blue, bubbling furiously and sparkling little bright green stars. 


	13. Chapter XIII The Next Day

Chapter XIII - The Next Day  
  
By next morning, the potion had turned the natural color again, and Ellie never got to see that something wrong had happened. She had spent the day busy trying the cheer Remus up, but he was, of course, very disappointed, to say the least, and so they had listened a lot of music but talked very little.  
  
Still, when the morning came, Ellie decided to get him breakfast in bed. He was felling a bit better and when she tried to score a berry in his robes he actually smiled. After lunch, Remus, though still sad, was talking again.  
  
"I don't know where I'll find a job now. I'll have to wait. Maybe other editors may forget what they read..."  
  
"You could be my assistant." Ellie said.  
  
"I'm not very good in potions."  
  
"But you're very good in assisting me. And you could get me the ingredients and-"  
  
"Maybe I could write for a newspaper under another name."  
  
"You'd have to be a bastard to write to a newspaper." and she remembered Rita Skeeter again. "Ooooh, that cow!!"  
  
There was a knock on the door. Ellie got up, still talking to Remus "If I could get my hands on her- Why, hello!"  
  
Remus looked to see who had been knocking and ...it was Rita Skeeter!  
  
"Ellie" he cried, getting up, but he was too late. She had already slapped Rita Skeeter's face. Rita was so affronted, obviously never expecting this, that she took a while to react. Then she hit Ellie with her crocodile handbag and a moment later they were both flying in the air, Rita grabbing Ellie by the hair and Ellie grabbing Rita by the neck. Remus ran outside to try and stop them. They were rolling on the ground, shouting and trying to strangle each other.  
  
"Ellie stop!" but for more than he tried he couldn't get them separated and almost had his own head ripped off! He ran inside the house, picked his wand and shouted "Petrificus Totalus" at Rita who was now grabbing Ellie's robes while she was kicking her bottom's side. Rita immediately went rigid and Ellie still tried to kick her again, but Remus grabbed her.  
  
"I'll kill her!" Ellie was shouting. "Let me kill her!" Then she looked at him, took a deep breath as if to calm down and said in a much softer voice "Remus, dear... let me kill her... hum... how about it?"  
  
Remus was still very serious. "No."  
  
"Oh, come on! Please?" she looked like she was asking for a candy.  
  
"No!" and he dragged her to the door. Just before he entered he called "Finite Incantatem!" to Rita, who came to her feet again, and still pointing his wand he said "Go, now, before I let her finish you off. And don't come back."  
  
Ellie was struggling in his arms "Don't you come back or I'll kill you!" Rita was looking murderous but Remus was still pointing his wand at her and she noticed Ellie was trying to get free. "Why don't get the hell out o' here and go to India, you cow?" Ellie was shouting "Then they might worship you, you big, fat-" but Rita Skeeter desapparated. Remus dragged Ellie inside the house, closed the door and forced her to sit on a chair. Ellie was now looking grumpy, as if they had ruined her birthday.  
  
"Stay!" he said to her. He went into the lab and returned with the phoenix tears. He looked at her: lip cut, hair in a mess, sleeve ragged... and started giggling. A moment later he let out a heartily laugh.  
  
"What?" she said, still looking extremely disappointed that Rita still had her life.  
  
"You know what I always loved about you" he said, trying to control his own tears of laughter "even when we were at Hogwarts?"  
  
Ellie looked up at him, annoyed.  
  
"Your eloquence." And he started laughing again. Ellie broke down as well and smiled.  
  
"I busted her ass, didn't I?"  
  
"We've just bought a war, but yes, you sure kicked her butt!" Remus tried to control himself and he unscrewed the little tube and kneeled before her. "Now be a good girl and let me treat you. I bet you never though you would need phoenix tears for this." 


	14. Chapter XIV The Longest Night

Chapter XIV - The Longest Night  
  
Strangely enough, there were no nasty news about them on the Daily Prophet. As a matter of fact, there were no articles signed by Rita Skeeter on the following weeks. Remus took it rather worried: he was sure she would seek revenge. But Ellie seemed to have forgotten all about her, and used to say that they had lost everything already and there was nothing else she could do.  
  
Remus now oftenly complained that the potion tasted even worst. But Ellie simply said that leeches usually make potions more acid and that was probably it.  
  
And so, the night of the full moon found them in such a peaceful and happy mood that it was a shame that they had to interrupt their happiness with another experiment.  
  
"I think I'll stay with you now" she said, taking her parchment and quill to the bedroom.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"The ingredients I added, if in right proportions, cancel each other's side effects and only the pain reliever will work." she said, quite confident. "And I'm sure they are right. It's not a common pain reliever, the one I used, but very effective when the pain is generalized throughout the body, which is your case."  
  
Remus was taking his clothes off, as not to rag them during transformation, and sat beside her. The sun was setting and the moon should be rising at any moment. He embraced her and they stood quite still for some moments, just feeling each other's heart bumping fast. She rested her head on his shoulder and heard his voice say "Will you marry me, Ellie?" just before his arm twitched. She lifted her head at once and he stood up, shaking uncontrollably. She still had her hand in his. Next second he was letting out wimps of intense pain.  
  
Ellie stood up, unexpecting this as much as he was, and watched, unable to do anything, as he transformed, curling up on the ground. She had imagined this a thousand times, but she never though it was so horrible. He seemed to have fallen under the Cruciatus Curse, nearly every muscle on his body twitching and his tense skin going red started growing hair. He was crouching in the ground and she couldn't see his face, but two wolf-like hears were now visible under his hair, and as he curled up, shaking and growling, he took, in a minute's time, his wolf appearance.  
  
This had all been so sudden and his screams so intense and unexpected that only now was she realizing something must have gone wrong with the potion. But he was already looking at her, through his wolf eyes, and this time she could not recognize Remus' eyes there.  
  
She trembled for a moment and then-  
  
"Nooooo!"  
  
The wolf had jumped on her, growling and trying to bit her everywhere possible. He sunk his teeth near her shoulder and she cried in pain. They were rolling on the floor, she was trying to get him away from her, remembering her wand laid forgotten somewhere in the living room. She was screaming in agony as he bit her yet again, her blood on his bare fangs and fur. Ellie was crying his name as if it could save her "Remus! Remus! REMUS!!" but her voice, tears and pain were lost.  
  
She kept trying to defend her face with her hand and arms, and she suddenly noticed his wand was near the bed and tried to reach it. She stretched one of her arms and caught it but he seized her cheek before she could defend it again.  
  
"STUPEFY!" she cried and the wolf stopped suddenly, as if it were dizzy. She got up quickly, soaring in pain, and knowing it was only half stunned and that she had no more than a few seconds before he regained his strength again. Her robes were soaking with her blood and her face was painfully hurt.  
  
She stepped out of the door, closing it, and locked it with a spell. She heard the wolf charging against the door, as he regained conscience. Ellie let out no cry and no sound, and just drooped on the floor, bleeding, while the wolf kept trying to tear the door down.  
  
When the moon set, next morning, Remus woke up and he couldn't remember a thing. 


	15. Chapter XV Sorrow

Chapter XV - Sorrow  
  
The loss of memory was his first sign. The fact that Ellie wasn't in the room was certainly the second.  
  
Something was terribly wrong.  
  
Remus had been sleeping by the window and when he woke up he noticed there was some purple powder on the edge of the window. But Ellie's absence and his lack of memory drove everything else out of his mind. Especially because all he was feeling reminded him of when he transformed into a dangerous wolf.  
  
Scared by the mere thought, Remus ran to the door and found it locked. His wand was nowhere to be seen. Disappearing, he apparated on the living room and... there she was. Lying on the floor, robes torned, hands stained in blood. One arm was stretched out of the sleeve, severely injured, and her face was not visible under her hair. He just stood there for a moment, unable to move. She seemed motionless... and he was filled with a panic he had never felt in his life.  
  
Slowly he moved towards her. "Please don't be dead... please don't be dead" was his only and lonely thought. He took longer to reach her body than was needed, for every moment seemed to delay the knowledge of her death. Every moment was a moment of hope. And he didn't want to let go of that hope... not yet. Finally he kneeled on the ground. Unable to touch her skin right away, he noticed that she was still breathing. Only just. But breathing. That fact seemed to have awaken him. She gave another small breath and he breathed again as well. Oh, relief like none ever. She was still alive!  
  
And suddenly he realized he had to be quick.  
  
He turned her facing up. Her body was terribly cold and her face was hardly visible under all the dried blood and tangled hair. He wanted to take her to bed but wasn't sure anything was broken. And most of all, he didn't know what to do.  
  
Should he let her stay like this? Should he risk taking her to the bed? Should he warm her up? Questions and doubt burst inside him, battling and urging him to act but keeping him from making a decision. If only he knew which potion should he use...  
  
And it stroke him: "I would trust him with my life".  
  
He reached for his suitcase, took a very old piece of parchment from it and pocketed it. He gave a last glance at Ellie's body and desapparated.  
  
***  
  
He apparated in Hogsmeade. He thought about going through the Shrieking Shack, but it would take him longer to reach Hogwarts than... by broomstick. There was one stationed just outside the post office. It seemed quite alone and arranged by fate.  
  
Next moment he was flying to Hogwarts' grounds as fast as he could. The wind rushing in his hair made him feel he was finally doing something and that there was hope. He landed right in front of Hogwarts' front doors and entered, taking the parchment out of his robes and pointing his wand at it.  
  
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good" these words seemed so wrong in face of all that had happened. Instantly, lines and dots appeared on the piece of parchment and he quickly tried to find the dot labeled "Severus Snape".  
  
He found him in a dungeon near the Entrance Hall. Sprinting down the staircase, he reached the dungeon door, feeling time was running out.  
  
"Mischief managed" he said, and he entered the dungeon as soon as he saw the lines disappearing.  
  
Snape was sitting at a desk, surrounded by glass jars with disgusting things suspended, and he immediately looked at him, astounded.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asked at once, and frowning slightly dangerously "Where is Ellie?"  
  
Remus was paler than usual. "She needs your help."  
  
"What have you done to her?" he asked getting up.  
  
"We must hurry to her house."  
  
Snape didn't say another word. He guided Remus through corridors that eventually ended at a door. The Forbidden Forest lay ahead and Snape entered, Remus at his heels. They spotted a couple of thestrals, black winged horses with a very reptile look, and Snape quickly got to the back of one of them. Remus followed him.  
  
"As soon as we are out of Hogwarts grounds, Desapparate and Apparate by her house." said Snape while they lifted off ground.  
  
Less than two minutes had passed on the air when Snape Desapparated from his thestral's back. Remus followed him.  
  
He apparated at the kitchen (certainly disoriented by the speed) and entered the living room, where Snape was already attending to Ellie. He was kneeled by her side, looking at her, shaking slightly. He looked at Remus dangerously but didn't say a word. Gently, he took her in his arms and led the way to her room, laying her on the bed. There was a very hurt and sorrow look in him and Remus never though Snape could take someone as gently in his arms. He was looking miserably at her, then looked at Lupin again and finally spoke.  
  
"Have you given her any potion so far?"  
  
Remus shook his head.  
  
"Was it ..." Snape found it hard to say. He took a deep breath and said "Was it the full moon?"  
  
Remus nodded slowly, unable to speak.  
  
Snape was looking murderous. And sad.  
  
"Can you tell me from which cauldron you drank last time... when it worked?"  
  
Remus quickly got up and, after taking a careful look at all the cauldrons in the lab, he finally chose one that still had a bit of potion. Snape, however, was looking at another one. He was carefully reading the list of ingredients under it and said "Was this the one you've been drinking?" Remus looked at it and nodded. It was looking very dark, unlike all the others.  
  
"This was ruined" said Snape. "This was what went wrong."  
  
And Snape immediately began to work, looking for ingredients and cleaned cauldrons. Remus let him work and got back to the bedroom, seating next to Ellie for the almost three hours Snape took to return.  
  
He entered the room, Remus quickly got up and Snape took a potion to her lips. She was breathing slowly, looking pale and cold. She didn't drink, but Snape spilled it on her open mouth just the same.  
  
She didn't seem to react. Neither did Snape. He was looking at her, stone cold. Remus left the room, feeling guiltier than ever. He couldn't stand being in the same room as Ellie. Now that he had gone for help, he felt he had done all he could and that felling of impotence drained him of all forces. He kept pacing around the room. What if she... He couldn't even think about it! It seemed that if he didn't think it wouldn't happen.  
  
He couldn't help thinking, though, that the last thing he remembered was asking her to marry him. He seated on the floor and, for the first time in a long time, he just cried. 


	16. Chapter XVI Distant Memories

Chapter XVI - Distant Memories  
  
There was a deadly silence in the room. Ellie was still breathing slowly and didn't seem to be reacting at all to the potions Snape had already given her. He was now cleaning her arm with phoenix tears, while blood and scars were healing. Phoenix tears had been a good call, Severus thought. Her face was a terrible mess, a nasty cut across her cheek almost reaching her eye, but the tears, now almost over, had healed a scar that wouldn't disappear any other way. Her arms were almost cured. But while open cuts were easy enough, the deep sleep in which she had fallen wasn't improving.  
  
She seemed a tragical angel, still on the bed, quiet and cold.  
  
Severus was remembered of the last time he had seen her like this: quietly lying on a bed, sleeping. She hadn't been ill at the time. No... she had been in love.  
  
***  
  
He always knew she had a crush on Remus. But Severus loved her all the same. She was the only person he could call a real friend. The only one he could trust. Teased as he was in Hogwarts for being a loner and having a girl for best friend, Severus never felt their friendship could be a burden. Until he found out he was in love with her.  
  
It was during their sixth year. Having achieved "Exceeded expectations" in their O.W.L.s. Ellie and Severus were both taking Potions, along with another Ravenclaw boy. They were also together in Defense Against the Dark Arts, although this class was a bit more crowded. Potter and Evans were there, as were Black, Pettigrew and a couple more students from Slytherin. And Lupin, of course. Prefect Lupin was a target of every girl's eyes. Severus was especially annoyed every time Ellie talked about Prefect Remus. It seemed he was more a "Perfect" than a "Prefect"!  
  
Ellie was extremely good at potions. Severus admired very much her skills... and her eyes. He was often lost in admiring her eyes when they did homework together. Actually, he started admiring everything about her. Admiration, friendship, the fact that he felt so good when she was around... everything became very confusing to him. Sometimes he felt like running away from her. Others, he just wanted to be the tree in which shadow she used to rest during breaks in the summer. And sometimes, he wished he was the robes that embraced her, the blankets in which she would warm her body at night, and the wind that touched her skin.  
  
He refused to believe that he was in love with her, though. It was only when the summer holidays arrived, when he saw her at platform 9 and 3/4 embracing her parents, that he realized that the prospect of not being with her for two months was painful. And by first day of the beginning of their seventh year, Severus had to admit that life without her was just not the same.  
  
Their last year at Hogwarts was at the same time his happier and his lonelier. He could have her by him every time, but he still wouldn't dare to ask her out or to speak his mind. The passion often consumed him at night, when he remembered she was sleeping feet away from him. But he knew that she would step away if he told her how he felt, and he couldn't bare the thought!  
  
The last day at Hogwarts was terrible. He kept wondering if he should tell her something. There was nothing else to loose, now. He knew they would never be together again. And all the way in the Hogwarts Express he tried to tell her something, anything! But she was talking about the journey she was doing around Europe, to learn all about potions, and the train arrived at King's Cross station before he could say a word. At the platform, when everyone was saying their goodbyes, he caught a glimpse of Potter and Evans kissing... and at that moment he felt his face warm up suddenly with a touch of lips. He turned to Ellie, blushing like he never blushed in his life and with his hand on the cheek she had just kissed.  
  
"I'm going to miss you, Sevy." she said, smiling. His throat was so tight he couldn't speak. "Keep your eyes in the sky." she told him "I'll send loads of owls." And, smiling, once again, she left to join her parents.  
  
***  
  
Two years had passed when Severus received an owl from Ellie saying she would be returning next week. Perseus, the owl, was already feeling at home. He had delivered a lot of letters there by now.  
  
"I wanted to see you." the letter said "I have so much to tell you! I will be staying in London for two weeks. Can you meet me there? I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron."  
  
Severus' heart jumped and he sent his quick answer "I'll see you in London" before he realized what he'd done. He would be seeing her again!  
  
The week seemed the longest in his life. Finally the day arrived. Severus was fixing a suitcase in his bedroom. He wanted so much to be with her he was pretending to have urgent businesses in London to make sure he would spend the whole two weeks with her.  
  
"What are you doing?" asked a man walking in the room.  
  
Severus didn't answer.  
  
"Are you leaving again, are you?" the man asked again. "Your mother won't be pleased."  
  
"I never thought you'd mind about what mother pleases" said Severus coldly, not looking at the man, still fixing his case.  
  
"Leave then!" said the man. "And don't come back this time. We don't need you around!"  
  
Severus looked at him at last. "I never returned because of you. I don't care what you need around. I only came back because mother asked me to. And because I know you're not so brave when I'm around now. Are you?"  
  
The man didn't answer and turned on his heels, leaving the room.  
  
Severus continued to pack as if nothing had interrupted him.  
  
***  
  
When Severus arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, he realized Ellie was already there, because he saw Perseus swooping in one of the corridors to the bedrooms. Perseus seemed very pleased to see him too, and led him to the room where Ellie was unpacking her things. He entered, Perseus hooting in his shoulder, and saw her taking some robes out of her suitcase, a huge pile of books on top of a desk and her wand sticking out a flower's vase.  
  
"Got tired of flying in the corridors, have you?" she asked without turning around, still, looking for something under the clothes.  
  
"No, just tired of missing you." said Severus before he could stop himself.  
  
Ellie turned around that instant and looked at him so pleased, she ran to him, drooping two books as she did so. She flung her arms around him and nearly squeezed him in a tight embrace. Perseus flew away, afraid of being squashed too.  
  
"Sevy! I missed you so much!"  
  
He was motionless. He had never felt anyone's embrace before. And he had never felt her body so close. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to hold her as well, but he just remained still, his arms along his body, utterly confused.  
  
Ellie took his face in her hand and deposited a great wet kiss in his cheek.  
  
"Mhuac! Oh, how I missed you!" she said. And then... before she could help herself, she kissed him again... but not on the cheek. It was a quick kiss, a confused and much desired kiss by both of them for a long time. Ellie had never realized how much she wanted to do it until she embraced him. She had suddenly found out that being friends was not enough anymore.  
  
He was looking at her astounded, his face burning so much she could feel the heat emanating from him.  
  
She took his head in her hands again and kissed him longely this time. Severus had never felt anything so good and so warming in his life. No charm, no incantation, no potion could reach the power of what he was feeling. He held her in his harms, embracing her, kissing her, trembling with passion and excitement, feeling an unexpected rush taking over him, awakening every fiber of his body and every corner of his soul.  
  
***  
  
Ellie had fallen asleep by him, but, exhausted as he was, Severus just felt like jumping, running, flying all around the world! And she seemed so beautiful laying next to him. He pulled unbashefully the blankets from top of her and just looked at her body. He had never seen anything like it. Her lines, her curves, her skin ensnared his senses.  
  
Just like now, so many years later, lying motionless on the bed, paler and colder than she had been that beautiful day, she still had the power to make him feel weaker and stronger than anything else. What if she never made it? What if he couldn't save her? What if she became a monster just like that... monster?  
  
He touched her face, gently, remembering how warm it used to be.  
  
Feeling lost and anguished, he just wished she'd wake up. Even if to return to Lupin's arms, he'd rather have her with his greatest rival than having her dead. 


	17. Chapter XVII Owls Arrivals

Chapter XVII - Owls arrivals  
  
Two days later, Ellie still didn't show any sign of improvement. The two men inhabiting her house and looking after her almost never spoke. Severus hardly ever left her bedside. He kept giving her a potion every morning, even though her wounds were now healed.  
  
Remus was taking some breakfast, one of his first meals in the last days, when Perseus flew inside the house and stationed himself at Ellie's bedroom door, hooting. Remus noticed the letter was for Snape and opened the door. The owl flew inside, drooping the letter in Snape's lap.  
  
He opened and read it.  
  
"Dear Severus, I received your owl and I'm sending more phoenix tears as you asked. I also give you permission to miss your Hogwarts appointments but I'd wish you could appoint someone to substitute you while you're gone. I hope you can manage to return soon, A. Dumbledore"  
  
Snape took a small glass that was hanging in Perseus leg.  
  
"Phoenix tears?" asked Remus, but at that moment another owl came in through the open door, leaving a letter in Ellie's stretched hand.  
  
They exchanged dark looks and Snape decided to open it. It was from Mrs. Wood, Ellie's mother.  
  
"Ellie, please answer me! I just read in the Daily Prophet that you had been attacked. Is this true, dear? Please tell me. I cannot go to you now, because of my students. But if you don't answer me by night denying everything I swear I'll find the means to find you! Please tell me you're well! Mum"  
  
"The Daily Prophet?" asked Snape after reading it. "How could they know?" Another owl came by the door, leaving the Daily Prophet over the bed. It was addressed to Ellie. Then the owl flew away, not waiting for payment.  
  
Remus understood who had sent the newspaper the moment he read the little box with the news Mrs. Wood had mentioned. It was even circled in red ink.  
  
"The Rebounding of Spells It is tragical when wizards mess up with things they shouldn't, because their spells are bound to fall upon them, writes especial correspondent Rita Skeeter. It was what Ellie Wood, former member of the Confederation of Potion Makers, found out the worst way possible. While trying to develop an illegal potion, Miss Wood brought under her roof a dangerous werewolf, Remus Lupin, who brutally attacked her on the night of the full moon. As everyone is aware, werewolf bites transforms the bitten person into a werewolf itself. By now, Ellie Wood has certainly learned, at the cost of a normal life, that there are things that shouldn't be messed with at the risk of loosing precious things in life. The attack of a werewolf will certainly not be forgotten by the Ministry of Magic, who will try to seek the guilty wolf to trial."  
  
"You were seen!" said Snape, looking at the picture.  
  
Remus looked at the picture, with horror, recognizing him as a wolf attacking Ellie. Seeing it from outside made it even more horrible than he'd ever thought! Snape immediately stood up and left the room.  
  
"Lupin, come here!" he called from next room.  
  
When Remus got there, Snape was examining the window edge. First he thought he was looking at a beetle passing by, but then he realized there was some purple powder which Snape seemed to have recognized at once. Remus recognized it as well: the remains of the flash of wizard's photo taking.  
  
"She was here." Snape said bitterly "Rita Skeeter was here waiting for something to go wrong. For a story to be told. And she could have stopped you. She could have saved Ellie."  
  
Remus felt and anger rising inside him. He knew Skeeter would buy her revenge, but at the cost of someone's life?  
  
Another owl came flying through the door, leaving Remus a letter.  
  
"Dear Mr. Lupin, We have received intelligence that you have attacked the witch by the name of E. Wood at sunset, two days ago, at the mentioned person's place. We have enough incriminating material with us (Skeeter's photos, said Snape) to conduct a process. Remain at the place where you receive our letter until Ministry Agents can escort you to the Ministry of Magic for a hearing. Remember that fleeing will only aggravate your situation. Yours sincerely,-"  
  
"Run away" interrupted Snape. "Run away now, while you can. I won't tell them that you were here."  
  
"It will only 'aggravate my situation'! " said Lupin in a slightly quivering voice.  
  
"They will send you to Azkaban if you don't go. Now!" Snape insisted in an urgent voice. "Or would you rather share a cell with your friend Black?" he snarled.  
  
"Maybe I should" said Remus, quietly. "I will never forgive myself."  
  
Snape look at him intensely. "I will never forgive you." he said dangerously. "But there are more important things now. Think about Ellie!"  
  
"What about Ellie?"  
  
"She will wake up and find you in Azkaban. Can you imagine what that would mean to her?" The next words seemed to take him every strength he had to be able to say them "It was no one's fault." he said at last.  
  
Remus looked at him amazed, taken by a sudden feeling of gratitude and admiration.  
  
"How long does it take to perform a Fidelius Charm?" asked Remus.  
  
Snape was looking puzzled. "You... You must trust completely in your Secret Keeper." he said, uncertainly.  
  
"I do, Severus. I trust you completely to hide me." and seeing Snape was not reacting, he added "You need someone here in case you need help. I'll do anything to save her life. And I know you will too. I trust you to be my Secret Keeper." 


	18. Chapter XVIII Devotion

Chapter XVIII - Devotion  
  
The big bright full moon was casting its light all over the smooth surface of the lake. It was shinning so intensely it seemed no one could escape its power. The stars were cast to oblivion by its brightness... and her tears were gleaming like little drops of moonlight.  
  
Her watering eyes reflected the big orb in the sky, while her naked body seemed paler and bluer by the night light. She was standing by the lake, watching and dreaming. Far away, a wolf was howling. Around her there was nothing but the lake and the forest by her side. No man, no animal, no movement. Not even the leaves of nearest trees were moving.  
  
And then, out of the shadows of the forest, a man appeared. He was walking slowly towards her. As he came closer she recognized him.  
  
"Remus..."  
  
He walked by her, with a fixed expression, not looking at her and went to the lake. She followed him. He entered the lake, still transfixed as if hypnotized, and was waste in the water when she decided to go after him.  
  
"Remus! Remus!" she called.  
  
But he didn't turn. He was going more and more deeply into the water of the lake. "Nooo!" a voice cried after her.  
  
She turned to see Severus. The 20 years-old Severus of her past.  
  
"I won't let you!!" And he cried some sort of spell, pointing his wand at the water. The water drained from the lake and she noticed Remus was visible again, still walking, now on the mud, still going further. She somehow felt an urge to follow him, and buried herself deeper and deeper.  
  
Then she felt someone grabbing her arm. Deepening in mud as well was Severus, now holding her. "I won't let you go!" he said severely. "Come with me."  
  
"I can't." she said at last. "The moon is calling me."  
  
"Calling you to your doom!" he said angrily. "I told you! I won't let you go!"  
  
"The moon is calling me..."  
  
"I am calling you!"  
  
She looked back. Remus was almost covered in mud. "Remus..." she said sweetly. "Don't leave me. The moon is calling us, Severus" she said, freeing her arm gently. "There is nothing you can do."  
  
She turned to the place where Remus had gone.  
  
"I know you want to be with him" Severus said bitterly. She turned to him again. "But he doesn't want you to go. I don't want you to go. And I'm going to stop you, even if I have to go in for you!"  
  
And he grabbed her by the arm again, pulling her out of the mud. As he pulled, he sank more and more in the mud, while she was being brought up. He gave a final pull and she found herself outside the mud, walking over it like if it were solid ground. But Severus, though sinking, was smiling.  
  
"I will never let you go!"  
  
And he sank completely... disappearing.  
  
"Ellie!" a man's voice called.  
  
She turned and saw Remus, running from the forest. He came closer to her. "Ellie!" and gave her a huge hug. And only then did she seem to awaken. She understood Remus of the lake was not the real Remus but an image death had taken to lure her. She also realized Severus had just given his life to save hers. Dizzy, she fell into Remus arms, crying.  
  
"No, no, no..." she cried under her breath. "No! NO! NOOOO!!"  
  
***  
  
"Severus..."  
  
Severus turned to face her. He was looking her very closely. Had he imagined it?  
  
"Severus..." she called again, in a whisper.  
  
He ran to her and placed her hand in his. "Ellie, I'm here." She was shaking her head as if trying to release herself from some bad dream. She held his hand in a tight grip and then stood up suddenly, opening her eyes, catching for breath. Then she coughed as if she had choked in the urge of breathing, and kept coughing for a while.  
  
Remus entered the room, running. He had been alerted by the noise.  
  
"Ellie!"  
  
There was a red thing, like blood, staining the sheets while she coughed.  
  
"Severus" Remus asked urgently "What's happening?"  
  
"She's coming back to us" he said, still serious, not letting go of her hand.  
  
Ellie finally stopped coughing and fell in the pillow again, still holding Severus' hand. He was looking at the sheets. "Is it blood?" asked Remus. Severus wasn't sure. "Go to the lab and get me a bit of that green potion."  
  
Remus came back as quickly as he could. Severus checked it was what he'd asked and gave her to drink. This time, she drank it herself, in silence, and opened her eyes again after she'd finished.  
  
"Severus..." she said weakly.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Severus asked. But she never answered. She lifted herself from bed and hugged him.  
  
"Sevy" she cried "I thought you were dead..." She was still crying in his shoulder. He held her tightly, like he used to a long time ago, and said in a sweet voice Remus didn't recognize.  
  
"It's alright, Ellie. I'm here. I won't leave you." He kept panting her hair, gently. Then she opened her eyes and looked around. "Where's Remus?" Severus pointed to the door. When she saw him, she stretched out her hand to him.  
  
"Remus..."  
  
But he didn't take it at once. He was still feeling guilty for all that had happened. Ellie seemed to have noticed it, because she said "I must have mixed the potions. Forgive me."  
  
He kneeled at her side, and kissed her hand, softly. "Ellie, we were so worried! Please forgive me!"  
  
Severus slowly let go of her, while Remus kept kissing her hand. He exited the room, leaving the two love birds be.  
  
Entering the lab, he looked at the potion he had been giving her. He was now Secret Keeper for both of them. For the potion and for Lupin. He had fooled the Ministry Agents once more. When they came for Remus, though he was shaking slightly, none of them could find him and eventually they left, keeping their promise to return.  
  
And now Remus was the one who was hearing the words "I love you" from Ellie's lips. He always knew that was how it was going to be. So, why was he still going along? Why did he keep helping?  
  
His thoughts answered him in no time "Because of her smile." All his happy memories seemed to include her somehow. And there was only one dark memory in which she was present.  
  
He knew he had lost her a long time ago. He knew all he could do now was protect her from being hurt so badly again. He felt that being her guardian angel was a way to remedy their past. And he loved her. He loved her so deeply he would die for her, die before seeing her cry again. Even if she was crying for Lupin. Severus had realized these past few days that even though he hated Remus Lupin with all his heart, his love for Ellie was much stronger and the prospect of seeing her alive was worth every bit of sacrifice that he could devote her. 


	19. Chapter XIX The Return

Chapter XIX - The Return  
  
Ellie woke up next morning feeling a lot better. She noticed Remus had fallen asleep fully dressed by her side and smiled. Getting up slowly, she headed to the kitchen where she found Severus sending an owl.  
  
"Are you up already?" he asked in a gentle voice.  
  
"Morning to you too." she said in a weak voice trying to sound stronger.  
  
"How are you feeling?" and he pulled a chair and helped her sit.  
  
"My head hurts a bit, but I'm able to think at least."  
  
"I'm glad you're feeling better" he said, sitting next to her "The Headmaster has just sent me an owl to ask me when can I make it to classes. I just wrote him back saying I'll be back this afternoon."  
  
"You're leaving" she said apprehensive.  
  
"You don't need me here anymore." he said darkly "You have Lupin to take care of you."  
  
"I don't know if I do." she said, looking down. "I was thinking that since now I'm... well... I'm... like him... I can make the experiments on myself. And he could be free to find a job again."  
  
"What?" said Remus, at the kitchen door. Both of them jumped a foot in the air. They hadn't seen him coming. "What are you saying? I'm not leaving you!"  
  
"Remus, you must find something to do."  
  
He exchanged looks with Severus and understood he hadn't told her anything about the Daily Prophet. He thought it better not to tell her yet. Severus decided to help.  
  
"Since I'm returning to Hogwarts, it really should be better if you had someone here."  
  
"I'll write to my mother. I didn't want to upset her, I wish she didn't have to know, but I know she'll understand."  
  
They suddenly remembered Ellie's mother! With all of last day's emotions they forgot to send her an owl.  
  
Right on cue, there was a knock on the door.  
  
"I'll get it!" said Remus at once. Severus held him by the robes and said "I'll get it." Oh, right, thought Remus, he couldn't be seen.  
  
"Severus!" said a female voice at the door.  
  
"It's mum!" said Ellie surprised, recognizing her voice.  
  
"Where is Ellie?" asked the woman still at the door. "Is it true what they said in the Daily Prophet?"  
  
Remus sank in his chair.  
  
"What Daily Prophet?" asked Ellie at once?  
  
"Mrs. Wood, Ellie is fine. She is in the kitchen having breakfast." said Severus' voice.  
  
"What Daily Prophet?!" asked Ellie again.  
  
But Mrs. Wood came running into the kitchen before Remus could say anything.  
  
"Ellie! Ellie!" and she embraced her tightly. A mother's hug is always a mother's hug, and Ellie felt a lot better than she had since she woke up. "Ellie, I was so worried!" Ellie still had no idea of what was happening, but Mrs. Wood let go of her and started inspectioning her. "But, my dear, where was it? You seem fine to me!"  
  
"Where was what?" asked Ellie at last.  
  
"The bite! Weren't you attacked?"  
  
"It was in the Daily Prophet?!" asked Ellie, shocked.  
  
"Well, yes! Didn't you read my owl?"  
  
"We... I opened your letter, Mrs. Wood." said Severus at once. "Ellie was sleeping at the time. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you she was fine."  
  
"But, is it true?" asked Mrs. Wood in a worried voice.  
  
"Mum..." Ellie didn't know how to break the news. Now she was standing in front of her it seemed a lot more difficult.  
  
"Mrs. Wood" said Severus "you know you can't trust everything you read in the newspaper. Especially when it's written by Rita Skeeter."  
  
"Yes." said Mrs. Wood "That Rita Skeeter shouldn't be trusted." It seemed a weight had been lifted from her chest. She took a deep breath and said "Ellie! I'm so glad that it was just another rumor by that so-called- journalist."  
  
Ellie was very confused, looking from Severus to Remus, she wasn't sure it was the best thing to do.  
  
"Well, mum, I'm sorry to have worried you." she said in an uncertain voice. "I know how difficult it is for you to come here."  
  
"Oh, dear! I was so worried I had to come! But now I know you're fine. You're really fine." she said winking to Severus. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you two." she said smiling.  
  
Ellie was deeply embarrassed. Remus was livid. But Severus seemed to be the only one thinking along her lines. "Well, Mrs. Wood, it's always a pleasure to see you."  
  
"I would really love to stay to make you lunch!" said Mrs. Wood.  
  
"But, Mrs. Wood, how about your students?" said Severus in a worried voice "Surely you can't leave them." he hinted.  
  
"I know I can trust you, Severus." said Mrs. Wood, laying a hand on his arm. "I always said so to Ellie. I'm so glad you worked out your differences and that you're together again. You naughty girl," she said smiling at Ellie "you should have told me! You know I always-"  
  
"I know, mum!" interrupted Ellie. It seemed so unlike her to start talking about it in front of a stranger! Especially when the stranger was the man she loved! She dragged her mother to the living room, casting an apology look at Remus, and in less than a couple of minutes they heard Mrs. Wood Desapparate.  
  
"I'm sorry, Remus!" Ellie said, entering the kitchen. "She really isn't like this at all! I don't know what came into her! Saying such personal things when she doesn't even know who you are!"  
  
But Remus started laughing and, turning to Severus, said "This is delicious, you know! She didn't have a clue that I was here!"  
  
Severus, however, was looking rather pale. "Ok!" said Ellie "Does anyone care to tell me what the hell is going on here?"  
  
Severus seated on a chair.  
  
"Yes," said Remus, in a much serious voice "I think we should. You better seat down, Ellie."  
  
***  
  
They told her everything that had happened. About Remus asking for Severus' help, about how she was, about the Daily Prophet, about the Fidelius Charm... Ellie heard everything in silence while Remus was talking. He sometimes seemed embarrassed when he had to mention that he had attacked her, but other than that the fluent explanation seemed to satisfy all Ellie's doubts.  
  
"Remus" she said when he finished the whole story "When you woke up, after the moon had set, did you just run to Severus? Didn't you feel exhausted like you used to?"  
  
"No..." he said, surprised at her reaction. He thought she would swear revenge on Rita Skeeter, give a tremendous "Oooooooh! So that's why my mum was so strange!", or even sit quietly, absorbing all that had happened. But she seemed very business-like suddenly. "I felt wide awake. But... you were hurt, weren't you? That must have had an effect on me."  
  
"What do you think, Sevy?"  
  
"I'm sure there was something wrong with the ratio leeches bumbledin. The potion you used turned pitch black right after the full moon."  
  
"Nooo." said Ellie scandalized. Remus was completely at sea. "But I'm sure I had them right!"  
  
"The receipt had them right, but you must have mixed it up at last moment. I really think you should try it again. Do you want me to check it with you while you prepare the next one?"  
  
"Would you?"  
  
"You just have to tell me when it's due. I'll be here."  
  
"Sevy, thanks!" she said. After a moment of silence, Severus got up. "I must get my things ready at Hogwarts. Send me an owl when you start preparing the next potion. Take care of Ellie." he said to Remus, before leaving the kitchen.  
  
Ellie walked him to the door. "Thanks, Sevy." she said, breathlessly "I... I don't know-" "I'll see you next week." he interrupted her. "Be a good girl till then." He kissed her forehead. For a moment, his deep black eyes were as bright as a warm fire in the winter and she smiled.  
  
"Sevy!" she called, when he made it to turn and leave "What was the potion you gave me to drink?"  
  
But Severus just winked at her and desapparated with a pop. 


	20. Chapter XX

Chapter XX - Fireworks in the Sky  
  
Severus and Ellie had just added the final leeches, on Monday morning, and were watching the potion turning red.  
  
"Everything seems to be fine, Ellie." said Severus after a while. "Are you sure the potion turned red last time?"  
  
"Actually, I was too busy cursing that Skeeter cow" said Ellie, remembering more clearly, exchanging looks with Remus. "Remus' letter had just arrived."  
  
"Ellie, you know better than to keep your emotions out of potion making" said Severus, rather gravely.  
  
"Well..." but she couldn't defend herself. She knew he was absolutely right. They didn't talk for a few minutes, until Remus interrupted "So you think we can start taking it tomorrow?".  
  
"Yes." said Ellie. "If it turns its original colour."  
  
"I'm sure it will" said Severus. "Send me an owl tomorrow. I'd like to know all the same."  
  
"Will you stay for lunch?" Ellie asked.  
  
"I can't. I have classes this afternoon. Actually, I should be going. I still have to prepare some ingredients for my students. Take care."  
  
And with a bow and a final look at the cauldron, Severus desapparated.  
  
Remus and Ellie were still looking at the place where Severus stood, and suddenly, as if she had just awaken, she said: "Remus..."  
  
"Hum?"  
  
"Will you marry me?"  
  
Remus looked at her, taken by surprise, and tried to say something. When he noticed she was still staring at him, he managed to say "Ahan."  
  
"Ahan?" she asked, giggling.  
  
"I mean... yes." and he blushed as he if were a 15 year old asking a girl out on a date.  
  
***  
  
The sun was nearly setting and Remus found Ellie by the garden, looking at a thin golden thread with a medal. She was holding it like a relic and it was gleaming in the orange sunlight. He had seen her before with it, hanging around her neck and resting beautifully between her breasts. But he never wondered what it was. He seated next to her.  
  
Ellie seemed to understand that he was curious and tapped the little medal with her wand, muttering something. Then she showed him. In the centre was a little man around his forties wearing muggle clothes, smiling and waving at them.  
  
"My father" she said, smiling at him.  
  
Remus was silently watching. She didn't look much like her father, except for the eyes, which were cunningly similar.  
  
"I always look at him whenever I need strength. He taught me so much. He was a muggle scientist, you know?. He worked as a chemistry engineer in a fireworks factory. He taught me all about how the radio works, what are vaccines for and about the first human walking on the moon."  
  
"He sounds like a really fascinating person." said Remus, very honestly.  
  
"He was an excellent father. I'm so sorry that Oliver, my brother" she explained "never had the chance to meet him."  
  
"How come?" asked Remus before he could stop himself.  
  
"He was murdered." said Ellie, darkly.  
  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't hav-"  
  
"It's ok. It was such a long time ago. Oliver was just a baby. I had already finished Hogwarts and I went to see him at the factory right after I'd arrived from my first trip around Europe. Mum told me he was doing some night work and I couldn't wait until morning for him to come home, you know, because I missed him so much." Ellie stopped for a moment, unable to speak. Remus didn't want to push her. But she felt she had to say something. And while the little picture went on smiling, she seemed to found her strength again. "When I got there... there was a giant skull in the sky with a snake coming out of its mouth, and fireworks were still exploding all around it, lightning the sky, as if death was a big party."  
  
Remus was tremendly shocked. But Ellie didn't seem to notice. She was speaking more to herself than to him. Her eyes were vague, as if she was witnessing the scene all over again in some piece of the garden fence.  
  
"I was very naïve then" she continued, in a hurt voice "I thought that there were only two kinds of people: the good ones and the bad ones, and that the bad ones only hurt good ones when they got in their way or were somehow their enemies. But I found out that night that there are also evil people who will hurt everyone else... just for the fun of it. My father was a muggle. Everyone in the factory was muggle. There was absolutely no point in what they did. A bunch of Voldemort's supporters just got there on their way to some slaughter, tied a bunch of workers, tortured the others in front of the tied ones... and set fire to the place. Then, when they were all..."she stopped again, took a deep breath and continued, her voice quivering "when they were all burning they killed them with a curse to make sure none of them survived..."  
  
Her eyes were now filled with tears. She didn't seem aware of them, and tried to speak again "Why? It was... so pointless... Why didn't they just attack a wizard? I would have died for him... Muggles had nothing to do with our war... WHY?!!"  
  
Remus took her in his arms. She was now trembling in fury, grief and long hidden pain. She hadn't remembered that night in a long time.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Ellie." he said in a gentle voice, holding her. "Now cry... cry everything you must cry."  
  
And so she did, while the little man, unaware of all their pain, kept wincing and smiling in the little medal.  
  
***  
  
Ellie sent an owl to Severus the following morning, confirming the potion had turned its colour again. Remus joined her in the kitchen.  
  
"About yesterday..." she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."  
  
"What do you mean? You shouldn't have asked me to marry you?" he said in mock outrage. "Oh, well, I'll just have to remedy." He kneeled before her and said "Miss, Wood, would you have the honour to be my wife?"  
  
"Isn't it: would you give me the honour to by my wife?" she said, smiling.  
  
"It would be in anyone else's case. But since we're talking about me..."and he winked. Ellie was now giggling. He was so wonderful. He had made her laugh when she was feeling so down. She gave him her hand.  
  
"Just this?" he asked. "I don't want your hand in marriage! I want all of you!" And springing to his feet, he took her in his arms and laid her on the table, kissing her longely.  
  
"What do you reckon?" he whispered, kissing her hears. "Think the table'll stand?"  
  
"Remus!" she opened her eyes and met his, filled with love and passion. He smiled, walked to the lab and returned a few seconds later, carrying two glasses.  
  
"I would give my life to make you safe, to know that you're not as cursed as I am" he said in a serious voice "I wish you could still take care of me in the full moon, I wish I could still fall asleep in your lap. I wish it didn't have to be this way." He gave her one of the glasses and raised his glass to all his wishes. She raised her glass as well, in silence, in a greeting to the coming full moon.  
  
And just as they were about to drink, Remus said, winking, "At least now you'll know what it tastes like and you'll work hard to make it sweet." 


	21. Chapter XXI Moonlight

Chapter XXI - Moonlight  
  
The two weeks to full moon were quickly gone. Ellie thought that she would be frightened by then, but she seemed to be calm as a martyr waiting for her time to come. Her reaction surprised Remus, and surprised her as well. And so, by the end of it, instead of avoiding the subject, they were now able to talk about it with no fear, as a mere fact of life, much like eating or sleeping.  
  
Ellie seemed to have fallen into such a resigned state that Remus finally understood she had measured all the risks a long time ago, when she decided to make the potion seriously, and that she now faced it as nothing more than a consequence of following that path.  
  
A few hours before sunset, Remus was talking to her about how painful it was the transformation and how he hoped that the pain reliever would work.  
  
"I don't know what I'm going to do now." he said "And with the Daily Prophet advertising that you are one too... It will not be easy for you either."  
  
"Don't worry." she said smiling "As soon as I'm sure we have settled that the potion makes you safe and how to drink it, I'm planning to distribute my potion to every werewolf that wants to try it. I have no other ambition beyond it."  
  
"That is very noble of you" he said, deeply moved.  
  
"I was planning on having children... but now I'm not sure I can." she said. "We can always try." Remus replied in the sweetest voice. "I really think I'd like to have a pack of children howling in the house."  
  
Ellie actually smiled.  
  
***  
  
Now they were both transforming, they didn't find it essential to be in one room. Even if anything went wrong, they wouldn't hurt each other, and so they were free to walk around the house. Ellie decided to lock every door that could let them leave the house, as to prevent any accident. They locked the windows as well.  
  
When they spotted the sun nearly setting, they took off their clothes and kissed longely. Then she gave him her hand and they waited.  
  
Hands in each other, looking pale, they watched the last sun rays illuminating the room and slowly going away. The moon should be rising any second.  
  
Ellie could feel her heart bumping hard (any second now) as if trying to shoot away from her ribs (any second...).  
  
Then Remus trembled. Not the usual panicked and painful shiver, but just as if a cool breeze had past their warm bodies. Then he kissed her hands, and she could feel a soft beard growing and his nose cooling. His hears began to grow. He was actually smiling just before his mouth grew sharp teeth and a wolf's mouth took place. In less than no time, he was standing in his hind legs, his paws in her hand.  
  
Her hand...  
  
Her hand?  
  
Her hand!  
  
What was she doing with her hand?! She should have a wolf's paw by then! She should be standing on her hind legs, just as he was! She should have a hairy face and wolf's hears!  
  
Maybe, she thought, male werewolves transform first. Any second now it will be my turn.  
  
But it became clear, as minutes passed by and they anxiously waited, that she wasn't going to be more of a werewolf than Perseus!  
  
Remus realised it as well. And he was so pleased and so filled with joy he was barking, chasing his tail, dancing in his hind legs and licking Ellie's stunned face. He seemed just a happy dog enjoying treats instead of a fully grown wolf. He ran all around the living room, howling what seemed like a happy song.  
  
But Ellie was still very confused. Why wasn't she transforming? Why was she still human?  
  
She had been bitten, she remembered only too well. Why didn't it affect her, then? 


	22. Chapter XXII Faith

Chapter XXII - Faith  
  
Remus was feeling terrible next morning, as he always did. All he said was "I'm so happy!" before falling in deep sleep. As soon as his breathing became heavy, Ellie got up and headed to Hogwarts. She had been thinking all night about what had happened... or what didn't happen and she was sure Severus had the answers.  
  
And sure enough, when she entered his dungeon, he didn't seem surprised to see her there.  
  
"Hello, Ellie. Sit down." he offered, as if they had arranged this meeting a long time ago.  
  
"Severus, tonight was a full moon, I didn't transform, what happened?" she blurted out.  
  
"You seem disappointed" he said, uncertainly.  
  
"Don't be silly! I'm just confused! Very confused."  
  
"Sit, then. Take a glass of water." Ellie finally seated and took the water he had conjured. "Why did you drink that?" he asked "You know you shouldn't drink anything a potion maker gives until you're sure of what it is."  
  
Ellie looked up, astounded.  
  
"I was sure." she said in a severe voice. "You said it was water. You're not going to poison me, are you?" she added, rather sarcastically.  
  
"Is my word enough? Do you trust me?"  
  
"What are you on about?" she said, sounding slightly angry. "Of course I trust you!"  
  
"And I trust you." said Severus. "I trust you as a true friend, my only true friend... and as potion maker. I trust you so much I made some of your potion and gave you to drink from the first day you were bitten till the day you woke up."  
  
Ellie was looking puzzled. Then, comprehension dawned down on her.  
  
"You... you gave me Wolfsbane?"  
  
"Everyday. Actually, more than once a day. I figured that if it stopped the wolf component of invading the mind, it might stop the invasion of a recent bite. And it did." Ellie fell silent. She didn't know what to say. Severus was looking at her intensely.  
  
Finally she said "You saved my life."  
  
"I saved you from a cursed life" he said "although now, with your potion, I doubt any werewolf will be much of a danger anymore." And he was smiling.  
  
"I never knew you thought so highly of my work." she said in a surprised voice.  
  
"I don't usually say what I feel." he said, quietly. "I should have learned to do that by now."  
  
And silence fell once more.  
  
"I did it all out of " love, he completed inside, but he decided to say "faith in your competence, in your skills, in your work. Blind faith. It wasn't until I saw you here that I knew it had worked. Ellie, you saved yourself. All I had to do was believe in you."  
  
"How can I ever repay you?"  
  
This time, a fire seemed to have been lit in his eyes, warming them suddenly. He looked at her, deep down her eyes, took her hand passionately and, after a deep breath, he said, in a hoarse voice, "Forgive me."  
  
Ellie immediately took her hand from his. She stepped back, saying "I don't know what you mean."  
  
"You do." he said in a hurt voice. It looked like the young man he used to be was in front of her again, all his feelings and passion flowing freely.  
  
"Forgive me, Ellie" and he looked desperate, too.  
  
"I already have, you know that." she said simply. "But you know I can't forget."  
  
"Why?! Why can't you forget a weakness, a mistake I've sorrowly regretted ever since? Isn't my suffering enough?" and more quietly he added "Isn't loosing you enough punishment?"  
  
"You didn't loose me" she said in a cold voice. "I'm here, I'm talking to you, you can see me when you want to."  
  
Severus said no more. He lost his voice and when Ellie said "I have to go, Severus. Thanks for being there for me." he didn't even react. He knew it was no good to argue. As soon as she left, he seated at his desk and buried his head in his hands.  
  
One moment of weakness can ruin a whole life. Can ruin so many lives. Can curse you forever. 


	23. Chapter XXIII A Night Painted Green

Chapter XXIII - A Night Painted Green  
  
"Morsmordre!"  
  
The sky was dark, filled with the poisoned atmosphere of burning gunpowder. Occasional sparks of fire illuminated the scene, and suddenly, an emerald green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth slowly rose into the sky, hovering above the long building. Another spark of fire crossed the air, painting it red. Then stars, pink and blue, exploded and disappeared with a trace of smoke.  
  
But even the noise of all the explosions could hardly silence the screams that came from inside the building. You could hear people screaming, pleading for mercy, and some voices saying "Crucio!" or "Avada Kedavra!", after which some screams would stop.  
  
Then a man came running from the door. "Noooo!" he was crying "Have mercy! Please!"  
  
And a hooded masked figure came from behind him, slowly riding a black horse. He seemed the spitted image of Death. The man kept running until he stopped and kneeled by the horse of the man whose wand had produced the green light that shone over the night, like a horrible full moon.  
  
"Please," said the man, kneeling "Have mercy! Please, sir!"  
  
"Shall I leave him to you?" said the figure who had come slowly up to them.  
  
"Yes, Lucius" the man of the wand answered. And the figure galloped away, shouting "Fear! Fear us!!" around the building.  
  
The little man, kneeling before the man with the wand was now crying.  
  
"Get up" said the man in the wand. The little man stood up slowly and when he got up he saw that this man was also masked, and also looked like Death itself.  
  
He raised his wand at the little man and said "Avad-"  
  
"You're not so brave without your mask, are you?" said the little man suddenly. It was obvious he had understood what was going to happen. And death had removed any fear from him.  
  
"You're not afraid of me." said the masked man.  
  
"I only fear for my family" said the man, now calm as a martyr. "I wish to survive because I love my family and I want to be with them. But I don't fear death."  
  
"Your family..." he sneered "And how do you know I'll kill you? Are you a wizard?"  
  
The man smiled bitterly "I am a scientist. I saw my friends and colleagues die whenever someone pointed that thing at them and cried Avada Kedavra. What should I conclude?" And after a brief pause he said "No, I'm not a wizard... but my family is. My wife's a witch, my daughter is a witch... and I believe my son will be a wizard too."  
  
"You married a witch?" said a woman, coming closer on a horse.  
  
The little man didn't take his eyes of the masked man. "I asked you if your wife's a witch, mudblood!" asked the woman's voice again.  
  
"My daughter has just come from abroad" whispered the little man to the masked man who had so many chances to kill him and still hadn't done it. "I miss her so much. Please, sir, have mercy. If not for me, than for the people who love me."  
  
The woman was riding around them, but unable to catch a word, she asked "What is he saying, Severus?"  
  
"Nothing, Bellatrix" said Severus. "Nothing that matters."  
  
"Then stop chattering, will you? We have much to do still! Hurry up with it!" and she galloped away.  
  
Severus raised his wand.  
  
"Please sir..." whispered the little man again. "Isn't there love in your heart?"  
  
And sudenly... Severus was unable to curse him. His lover's eyes were watching him from the little man's face! How could he be so stupid! His daughter had just come from abroad!  
  
"Are you still there?" asked the woman, joining them again. "Avada Kedavra!" she said.  
  
"Nooooo!" said Severus before he could stop himself. But the man was already lying in the ground... dead.  
  
"What?!" asked the woman.  
  
Severus forehead was sweating. How could it have happened?! He was dead! And it could have been by his hand!  
  
"What was it, Severus?" asked Bellatrix again.  
  
Severus looked up at her and this time he felt disgusted. She was not a "buddy" anymore, she was a monster to his eyes.  
  
"I wanted to do it." he said, calmly, controlling and hiding his emotions, as he had mastered himself to do. "I haven't done nearly anything tonight."  
  
Bellatrix laughed "You are wicked! I like it..." she said lasciviously.  
  
He felt so revolted all he wanted to do was curse her. But he kept still, and she went away and joined the others.  
  
Severus felt his insides melt, his heart clenched... And this time, he didn't feel like celebrating and didn't join them in their war cry when all that was left was ashes and dead bodies. 


	24. Chapter XXIV The Mark

Chapter XXIV - The Mark  
  
The green sky... the mark... the burned atmosphere... Bellatrix's unexpected voice... "Avada Kedavra".... "Nooooo!"  
  
Severus stood up suddenly, a cold sweat covering his body. He had lived it again in his mind as if he were there. Next to him, a body moved under the sheets.  
  
"Wh- What?" asked a sleepy woman's voice.  
  
"Nothing, Ellie" he said, trembling slightly "Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep."  
  
"Humm..." and she instantly fell asleep again.  
  
Severus ran his fingers through his hair. He was feeling so guilty. Ellie, quietly, unaware of his secret, was lying next to him, trusting.  
  
He thought nothing could be worst than that night. But when he received Ellie's owl two months ago asking him to meet her because she needed a shoulder to cry on... he felt he was the worst of men. The Dark Lord himself seemed like a clown next to his betrayal. But what could he do now? What could he have done when she begged him to walk her to the funeral because she feared she would faint? What could he say when Ellie introduced him to her mother and started crying when she remembered she had never introduced him to her father? What could he say when Mrs. Wood said such things as "you seem such a good boy, Severus"?  
  
What could he do but stand by the woman he loved and try to relief her pain?  
  
He got up and drank a glass of water. He wished for a moment that it was poison and that he would drop dead next moment. But it was only water. He looked at Ellie's body, sleeping in bed.  
  
He had loved her again that night. He had lost himself in that feeling, the only feeling, that made him so alive. He could still feel her warm kisses, he could still smell her skin, he could still hear her voice... He seated next to her again, touching her softly, running his fingers through her curves. Her body was like a mystery unraveling itself to be explored by him. And his body was a mystery trying to hide and conceal a shameful present and a hideous past.  
  
Ellie slowly opened her eyes again.  
  
"That is so good... I love it when you do that."  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"When you just stare at me and touch me so softly, as if I were some kind of precious jewel."  
  
"You're much more than that." he said honestly.  
  
She smiled a happy smile. Then kissed his hand.  
  
"Ellie..." he said. Then he fell silent again. He opened his mouth to speak... but no words came out.  
  
"I love you, too." she said.  
  
He stood up and grabbed his robes.  
  
"Are you getting dressed already?" she asked "Don't. I love to look at you."  
  
"You're just saying that. How could you like to watch such an ugly thing?"  
  
"Sevy" she said sweetly "I love you. All of you. Just the way you are."  
  
Severus' stomach was twisting in shame. "Tell her! Tell her!" a voice was saying inside of him. "I can't! She'll walk away." "You must tell her! She won't leave you if you just tell her what happened and how you're feeling!" "I can't!!"  
  
"What's wrong, Sevy?" she asked, frowning.  
  
"Nothing," he said, whipping the sweat from his forehead again. "I'm just-"  
  
"I mean in your arm." and she got up, worried, and walked to him.  
  
Severus looked quickly at his arm. "Nooo!" he thought to himself "Not now!!"  
  
"It's nothing." he said quickly, trying to get his robes on. But Ellie, worried, tried to seize his arm. Severus was so pale now she was sure he was sick somehow. "It's nothing" he said, again, waving his arm out of her grip.  
  
"Severus, you're ill!" she said "I must see what it is! You're pale and drenched in sweat! You're trembling. And there's something black in your forearm, I saw it appearing. What's wrong with you? I can prepare a potion for you-"  
  
"I can prepare a potion for me too!" he almost shouted. "I said it's nothing! Leave it!"  
  
Ellie didn't move. She was not used to hear him shout... especially to her.  
  
"You're upset. I understand" she said. "But you can trust me. You know that, don't you?"  
  
"There are things not even you can understand." he said bitterly.  
  
"You're wrong." she said. "I can understand. Trust me."  
  
"Tell her!"  
  
He was now dressed. He seated in a chair and sank his head in his hands. Ellie kneeled by him.  
  
"Sevy... you can trust me." and she kissed his cheek, and his neck, and pushed his sleeve down to kiss his forearm-  
  
But she stopped.  
  
She stood up, turned around, said "I'm dreaming...", then looked at him again.  
  
"Severus..."  
  
He looked up at her.  
  
"Show me your forearm." she said, shaking. "I thought... No, I must be seeing things."  
  
He stood up, walked to her slowly, took her hand and made her roll his sleeve again. Then he looked deeply in her eyes and said "Was this what you think you saw?"  
  
Ellie passed her fingers on the Dark Mark that had appeared in the same forearm she had so many times kissed and loved. She seemed to force herself to touch it to be able to believe it. Then she withdrew her hand in disgust, unable to take her eyes out of the Mark.  
  
"What is this joke you're pulling on me?" and she looked at his eyes, where no fire was now visible.  
  
"I wish it was a joke." he said, darkly.  
  
"You..." she said, faintly "You... I don't believe it! I can't believe it! You... I trusted you!!"  
  
Severus didn't move, didn't speak, didn't breath.  
  
"How could you?!" she asked, revolted. " I trusted you! I never thought you could join those monsters! They've spread nothing but death and- " then she seemed to have remembered the worst of it... and she stood very still. Her heart was beating so fast and her chest was so cold with fear she thought death itself had touched her. "Tell me" she said, shaking "Tell me you didn't..." Her eyes shining in tears "Tell me you weren't there." Breathing heavily, she grabbed him by the robes "Tell me, please. Tell me you weren't there. Tell me, and I'll believe you... Please... Tell me!" Her tears were running free over her cheeks now. Severus' eyes shone for a moment and a silent tear fell. "I want to believe you weren't there... Please... tell me you weren't there... I believe you if you tell me" she begged.  
  
"I was there." he said quietly.  
  
"No... Nooo. Noooo!" she fell to her knees, crying.  
  
He kneeled by her and forced her to look him in his eyes. "You must believe me: I didn't know he was your father."  
  
But Ellie's eyes were suddenly filled with an unknown fire. She sprang to her feet and looked coldly at him.  
  
"Oh, you didn't know he was my father!" she said sarcastically "Oh, then everything's ok, then, I suppose! What would you do if you'd known? Would it make any difference?" and she turned away to get dressed.  
  
"I wouldn't let it happen."  
  
"Then I'm really sorry you're not getting laid by every woman in the country." she said savagely "Then, they might have their families safe!"  
  
Severus didn't answer. He knew he deserved it. He deserved a lot more than that.  
  
When she finished getting dressed, in the cold silence that had remained, she walked by him to the door, but she stood still and faced him once more.  
  
"You were right, you know? I don't understand."  
  
And she stormed away. Severus didn't know what to do. He thought about going after her, but he didn't have enough courage to face her again. She was right about everything. And she had gone, before his eyes, and he just stood there, unable to move... to think... to live...  
  
Then he remembered the Dark Mark. He apparated near his Master, who had called his servants, and joined the meeting. He was feeling numb, but he managed to hear, through the buzzing in his hear that remained since Ellie had left, that the Dark Lord had a spy who assured him they could take over Hogwarts during the next days. One of Dumbledore's closest friends had just turned their side and was ready to deliver him to the Dark Lord. With Dumbledore gone, the school was nothing but a treat.  
  
That same night, when the meeting was dismissed, Severus didn't return home. He went to Hogwarts and became Dumbledore's most trusted spy. 


	25. Chapter XXV A Reason to Live

Chapter XXV - A Reason to Live  
  
It was past noon and Remus was still sleeping. Ellie was seated by the kitchen window, looking at the peaceful landscape. Looking but not seeing, her eyes were concentrated in her thoughts. And her mind was still with Severus.  
  
"Forgive me."  
  
His voice and his words were still echoing in her heart. They had touched her deeply. And she was remembering things she had tried to bury a long time ago.  
  
The night she found out Severus was a Death Eater had such an impact on her that she felt as if a Dementor was constantly walking with her. Her whole world seemed to be collapsing in tears and sadness, in emptiness and sorrow.  
  
Desperate and not knowing what to do, she just ran away from him, from herself, from everything. In less than a week she had packed and gone on her second learning journey, this time around the world, willing to forget everything about him and her past life. She needed so much to purge Severus out of her heart, she even let go of potion making and she started her studies on magical creatures.  
  
She went deep in forests, high in mountains, far in deserts. She had seen so much and filled her mind with so many new things... but still her mind remembered Severus at night when, alone and cold, she felt he was missing next to her. He was connected with every happy memory she had. Severus or her dad, and she was still too hurt to think about any of them. And so, at night, her only hobby was trying to find happy memories where none of them were present.  
  
Surprisingly enough, she found one. Deep down her mind, almost forgotten, she had stored the memory of that light brown haired boy, winking at her and leaving the breakfast table to join his friends...  
  
***  
  
Pacing around, having a good time torturing her, was prefect Finn, from Slytherin. It was night already and she had been found trying to sneak into the Slytherin common room.  
  
"Maybe I should take ten points..." he was saying, with a smile. "Or maybe twenty."  
  
"Why don't you take thirty while you're in it?" she asked, grumpily.  
  
"Best idea you had all night!" he said, with a twisted smile. "But I have a better one, still."  
  
Ellie didn't answer.  
  
"You still haven't told me what you were doing trying to get in our common room."  
  
"And it's none of your business so you'd better go on with it. Is it thirty, then?"  
  
"My, my... You are not cooperating. I might have to take fifty points from Gryffindor if you keep that behavior."  
  
"Listen, Finn-"  
  
"What were you doing there?" he hissed.  
  
"None of your business." she answered back.  
  
They were eyeing each other with loath.  
  
"You know," he said after a while "I like your temper. I'm so surprised you're not a Slytherin."  
  
"And I'm so surprised they made a git like you a prefect! Will you get on with it?"  
  
"Oh, dear! You really are in trouble now. Insulting a prefect... I think this asks for... one hundred points is it?"  
  
"You can't do that!" she said in outrage.  
  
"Watch me..." and, with a smile, he pointed his wand at the prefect's badge. "One hundred points... from Gryffindor."  
  
Ellie was struck with horror. One hundred points by the hands of a prefect?! That shouldn't be allowed!! They'd kill her in Gryffindor when they found out! And especially because she was trying to get into Slytherin's common room!  
  
"I can't believe you did this!" she said, outraged. But he was still smiling. At least now, she thought, there was no way he could torture her anymore. She turned to leave.  
  
"Hey, Wood, dear..."  
  
"What?" she asked acidly without turning to him.  
  
"I know how hard this must be for you. How about winning some extra points?"  
  
She frowned but turned to him. "How's that?"  
  
"You can carry my books tomorrow." he said, nastily "Give you ten points for that."  
  
She didn't answer. "Not enough? How about twenty-five points if you stand on our side next Quidditch match? It's Slytherin against Gryffindor. I'd love to see you in our colors. Thirty points if you do it."  
  
Ellie did not want to be bribed... but she feared her fellow Gryffindor's reaction when they heard about the hundred points she'd lost them. Still she said nothing.  
  
"I know... It's not much and it's too far away. You needed to recover all the points you lost them tonight and fast, isn't it?" Still Ellie didn't answer. "Well, I have a quick way for you to do that." This time, he was walking towards her. He stood near her and started whispering "I'll give you your hundred points back... if you give me a kiss."  
  
"A kiss?!"  
  
"A kiss." he whispered. "Not a quick kiss, and not on the cheek. One hundred points for a long... wet... kiss... in-"  
  
SLAP!  
  
Finn looked at her thunderstruck. For a few seconds he just kept his hand on the cheek she slapped, blinking, flabbergasted. Then-  
  
"You b**ch! You'll pay for this!" He grabbed her by the arm before she had time to flee.  
  
"Let go of me!!"  
  
"Hey!" another voice came "What's going on here?"  
  
Right on cue, Gryffindor's prefect, Remus Lupin, arrived and was looking at them stunned. The scene was not very pretty: Finn was holding Ellie by force, and she was struggling hard to get free. And all this in the middle of the night on an empty corridor.  
  
"Well?" asked Lupin again "What's going on here?"  
  
"This mudblood here-"  
  
"You can't take points from someone because of their lineage, so I suggest you keep it out of this." and Lupin, although talking calmly, was looking a bit dangerous.  
  
"Well, this... girl here was trying to sneak in my common room!"  
  
"That's no reason to hold her like that. So let her go." Finn didn't move. "Which part of 'Let her go' did you not understand?"  
  
"She also slapped me in the face when I took points from her."  
  
"Liar!" she managed to say. But Lupin was already pointing his wand at them.  
  
"Finn... Let her go. Now!"  
  
Slowly, the Slytherin boy let go of her. Ellie massaged her wrist and looked at Lupin, gratefully. But he was still looking at Finn.  
  
"Finn, you know the Prefect's Conduct we follow now is not the one written in 1572, where physical punishment was permitted, but the one revised in 1953, where, among other things, 'a prefect involved in a punishable action, unless if mere witness, in not in position of evaluating the situation as a prefect', meaning, you were victim of violence and you cannot punish her behind your prefect's badge. And since she's in my house... I think I'll take it from here."  
  
Finn was looking dangerous. But Lupin was not a bit impressed and was looking himself a lot more dangerous. In fact, calm, delicate, harmless Lupin seemed a lot more frightening than any Slytherin in a bad day. Ellie began to wonder whether she had been released from one prick to fall in the hands of another. And, she reminded herself, he used to hang on with that Black and Potter boys, which meant nothing but trouble.  
  
Slowly, Finn turned away, and so did Lupin. Ellie followed him. They were heading for the same common room.  
  
"Er... Thank you." she said, trying to keep up with him.  
  
"Why did you hit him, anyway?"  
  
"He was blackmailing me." she said darkly.  
  
"Well, that cost our house one hundred points." said Lupin grumpily.  
  
"It did not!" she said furiously. "He was trying to scare me because he caught me trying to enter their common room and I insulted him and he just took what he felt like!"  
  
"Then you were even more stupid because you knew he was being arbitrary with you and you played along!"  
  
Ellie was shocked. They were near the common room and when Lupin entered ("Golden Snidget") she was still looking astounded at him.  
  
Next morning, Severus met her at the door of the Great Hall.  
  
"What happened last night?" he whispered her.  
  
"Finn caught me."  
  
"Did you tell him what you were doing?" he asked pale.  
  
"Of course not, silly. But I got into trouble. I'll see you after lunch." and she went to her breakfast table, where she heard all sorts of rumors about the one hundred points lost. By the looks of it, Lupin hadn't told anyone it had been her. Not even Potter and Black seemed to know. In fact, Lupin seated next to her when he had the chance.  
  
"I'm sorry about last night." he said in a quiet voice. "I shouldn't have said what I said. I was just angry because Finn keeps doing this and our Gryffindors always play along. All he has to do is heat them a little and they'll loose points by tens! Of course, nobody lost a hundred before."  
  
"Wanna know why?" she asked defiantly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
And she told him all about the deal to win them back.  
  
"He what?!" asked Lupin in shock. "I should tell Prof. Dumbledore! That's blackmail!"  
  
"That's harassment, that's power abuse, that's humiliating, that is."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"That was when I hit him!"  
  
Lupin was surprised at how wrongly he had seen last night. When he finally put all the pieces together and looked at it again he laughed heartily for a moment, then, controlling himself, he said "Well, then, let's see... that's fifty points for not giving in to blackmail and showing moral fiber... and another fifty points for giving a correct answer, because that was the only correct answer to a stinking Slytherin's dirty proposal! " Ellie smiled, astounded. "And ten points for... hum... let me see..." he looked at her very serious, then he grinned and said" ten points for your beautiful eyes. Since you have two of them" he shrugged, winking at her "that will make twenty points for Gryffindor."  
  
Right at that moment, Lilly Evans had just come in the Great Hall and was talking loudly to some friends about some twists in the house points: there had been added one hundred and twenty points just out of nowhere! Gryffindor's were really trying to make it up from last night's disaster (which nobody ever knew who the responsible was)!  
  
Lupin winked at her and left the breakfast table to join his friends.  
  
***  
  
After these events, all prefects were called by the Headmaster, who, understanding how dangerous it was to leave house points to prefects, limited the points given or taken to fifty.  
  
Severus noticed that Ellie's behavior around Lupin was more and more suspicious. She didn't dare get near him, but she eyed him frequently with a smile, which he usually returned.  
  
Out of jealousy, Severus made the mistake of telling her about Lupin's... problem. "Sour." she thought of Severus every time she remembered he had done it.  
  
But it had the opposite effect. Instead of scaring her, she found it fascinating. She fell in love with Lupin's tragical story and his strange loneliness, even when surrounded by his friends, was finally clear. She even found the courage to talk to Lupin and eventually became his friend.  
  
***  
  
When alone, and cold, looking for a comforting memory, she stopped in Lupin's fragile and strong image she understood his loneliness for the first time. And his image became her company during her world trip.  
  
In time, she was forgetting about Severus and falling in love with this tragical werewolf who needed to be loved as much as she needed to love someone in order to be strong again. And stronger and stronger, she made it to the Confederation of Potion Makers, she made it to be present every year in the Convention, she made an impressionable career.  
  
But all she cared about was a way of releasing him from his loneliness... since no one could release her from her own.  
  
And now she had made it... she was felling lonely again. Seated, by the kitchen window, she was thinking about how much she had lost and what she had accomplished. But when she remembered Remus on her bed, sleeping after a night when he'd been safe, she had to say to herself that all the suffering and all the humiliations were nothing next to what she had won.  
  
And it was time now for other people to win their freedom from that curse and for their love ones to find peace in their hearts.  
  
It was time to start the struggle again and prove before everyone, every wizard... and every Confederation, that the potion was working and was healing.  
  
But how could she prove she had been bitten and now was safe?  
  
"Morning" said Remus, walking in the kitchen, looking very pale.  
  
"How are you feeling?" she asked, walking to him.  
  
"Happy." And he kissed her "So happy. But I was wandering if you have any news."  
  
"News?" she asked, frowning.  
  
"Yes, news. I mean answers. About why didn't you transform." But Ellie wasn't listening. She was smiling and then she kissed him and said "Remus, I love you! You-are-a-genius!!"  
  
"Am I?" he asked smiling.  
  
"I'll tell you all about it later... but now I need your help." And she grinned.  
  
Oh, sweet revenge! 


	26. Chapter XXVI Night Thieves

Chapter XXVI - Night Thieves  
  
The night was dark and silent except for a darker and even more silent shadow moving through the room. Outside, pacing nervously was another shadow, occasionally looking up to the window, trying to see something.  
  
"Oh, stop it!" hissed a man's voice.  
  
Ellie looked at Severus, standing a few feet from her, both hiding near the house in a small park, behind the trees. She stopped. But not even a couple of minutes had passed and she was nervously looking at the window again.  
  
"I'll go check around the house again." she said.  
  
"Oh, fine. Check again. I'll be here."  
  
And Ellie paced away, looking carefully, trying to see if it was still safe for Remus. This had to work! The all idea of stealing the photos from Rita Skeeter's house had come to her mind two days before.  
  
"I was wandering if you have any news." Remus had asked. "News?" had she asked, thinking about the Daily Prophet's news. And then it hit her! There was a way to prove that she had been attacked and that she was not transforming: Rita Skeeter's photos of the night of the attack! But for that, they had to go inside her house. And for that, she needed Remus to go in, since he could not be seen. And for that she needed Severus to help her guard such a big house.  
  
She rested her wand on her hand and said "Chronos!" The wand spinned almost half a turn. Remus had been inside for almost half an hour. Why was he taking so long?  
  
She returned to Severus. "Anything new?" he asked. Ellie shook her head and seated on the ground. "We must watch carefully." said Severus. "Rita can be here any moment. We must be ready, both of us, to stun her."  
  
Ellie nodded, but remained seated.  
  
"What's wrong with you?"  
  
"I'm just... worried." she said. "It was all my idea. What if it doesn't work?"  
  
"Why shouldn't it work? Even if she gets home and even if we can't stop her entering, Lupin is still safe because it's like he doesn't exist in her world."  
  
"I wish I was so sure..."  
  
"I'm glad he picked me as his secret keeper, then!" he said, angrily.  
  
Ellie actually smiled. "You're right. I'm just scared. I just want everything to go ok."  
  
"It will. And with the photos you will be able to register the potion and be a recognizable potion maker again. They won't deny registering a healing potion... And a healing potion with that power. Even if its side effect does take care of werewolves... Rita Skeeter will hate you, of course. There probably wasn't a better way to get even with her than to use her evilness to your rehabilitation."  
  
Ellie grinned "There isn't, is there? I thought it was not only useful... it was also enjoyable to watch her face when the whole thing comes out!"  
  
"And... what will you do then?" Severus asked.  
  
"I will try to advertise it as much as I can, so that it can reach hospitals who treat bitten people and werewolves who want a change in their lives."  
  
"And... Lupin... Do you know what he will do? I mean... now the experiment is over..."  
  
Ellie was suddenly so red she seamed a traffic light in the middle of the night. "We... well... I mean..."  
  
"He's going to stay with you." Severus completed, depressively.  
  
"Well... yes. He's got no place to go, has he?"  
  
"When you show the pictures, all the Ministry business will be forgotten, of course. With such an outcome, such a healing potion being discovered, they will eventually drop charges if you wish them to."  
  
"Yes, but he has no job."  
  
"He could work as a lab rat. Joking" he added, seeing her face. "I can try to find him a place at Hogwarts, if he wants to."  
  
"Would you?" asked Ellie, surprised.  
  
"The school year has started, but he could always apply next year. If things go as they have been for the last three years, the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts will be free. And that's an area where he is certainly an expertise." he added with a twisted smile.  
  
"Oh, good. But he will remain with me until then."  
  
Severus was thinking hard. "What about his house? Will he leave it unattended?"  
  
"He needs the potion. He must stay with me."  
  
"You can always send him some potion from time to time."  
  
"Oh, stop it, Severus!" she said, tired of excuses. "He's staying with me because we're getting married!"  
  
And it sure had the effect she expected. Severus didn't say another word for the next few minutes. But then...  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Why what?"  
  
"Why marry? Why this insanity? Why? Don't you know he's nothing but a teenager's crush?" he asked angrily, pointing at the window.  
  
"Oh, stop being such a child, Sevy! Of course it's not a teenager's crush!"  
  
"I don't believe it!"  
  
Ellie looked at him defiantly. "Oh, you will!"  
  
Severus felt his heart suddenly suffocating his throat. "What do you mean?"  
  
"There's something you don't know yet."  
  
Severus felt his whole body going numb. "What?"  
  
Ellie smiled.  
  
***  
  
Remus opened half a dozen drawers before he found out what he was looking for: the pictures that could save Ellie's reputation. There were so many pictures you could reconstruct the scene as a movie. Remus was in shock for a few seconds, admiring the way things had happened: how Ellie had struggled, how he had bitten her face and how she stunned him. And he remembered how coward and malicious a person had to be to watch it all and let it happen, when all of it could have been stopped.  
  
Remus looked through the window and saw Snape talking to someone who was hidden by the trees. He seemed angry and was pointing at the window. "Where was Ellie?", he thought. And he descended the staircase to the ground floor. With the photos in his pockets, he was finally getting away. It had worked!  
  
But, as he was reaching for the door knob... a noise, coming from the same door, froze him. Next moment, Rita Skeeter was entering the house, turning on the lights and... looking straight at him!  
  
Rita was smiling and she asked in the softest voice "What the hell are you doing in my house?"  
  
"I couldn't wait for the morning paper." said Remus, still in shock.  
  
"In did..." she said, with a nasty smile. She drooped her hand bag and said "You never were a good liar, werewolf." and retrieving her wand from the bag she pointed it straight at him "Now stay still while I check if anything is missing." And she looked around, still pointing her wand.  
  
"Who told you I was here?" asked Remus.  
  
"Who do you think?" she said, nastily.  
  
Snape.  
  
No one else could have turned him in. His secret keeper had betrayed him. And it was Rita the one he saw Snape talking to just now. But why did he do it?  
  
Ellie.  
  
Remus knew now that there must have been something between the two of them. And Snape certainly thought that he could get rid of his rival. A terrible rage grew inside him, unlike any other he had felt. And in less than a second he reached for his own wand and "Expelliarmus!" Rita's wand came flying in the air. He ran outside the house, hearing Skeeter's swear, and into the park, where he found Ellie.  
  
"Have you got them?" she asked, and then, seeing his face, "God! What's wrong with you?"  
  
But he just took her by the arm and dragged her deeper in the park.  
  
"Wait! How about Severus?"  
  
"We don't need him anymore."  
  
"Why? What are you doing?"  
  
And he suddenly stopped at a small clearing. Ellie looked at him, puzzled.  
  
"He betrayed me." said Remus darkly.  
  
"What? No. He couldn't."  
  
"Well, he did. Rita Skeeter entered the house and saw me. She could see me, hear me and talk to me."  
  
"No!" Ellie cried, in shock.  
  
"Yes. And since I'm trusting it wasn't you who talked to her-"  
  
"Of course not!"  
  
"It could only be Snape."  
  
"No!" she said in disbelief. "He wouldn't!" But then she remembered his reaction on all she had said... his rage and how he walked away on her. And she wasn't sure anymore.  
  
"Well, he did. Can you explain it in some other way? I'd love to know."  
  
"Ellie!" came a voice from behind some trees. "Lupin! Ellie? Where are you?"  
  
Remus looked straight at her. She didn't know what to do. Then they saw the light from the tip of Snape's wand.  
  
"There you are? Why did you leave? I nearly got caught!"  
  
"Got caught? That's a laugh!" Remus was looking murderous. Ellie was torned.  
  
But Severus was completely at sea. "What?!"  
  
"You nearly got caught?" asked Remus again.  
  
"Yes. There's a dozen Ministry Agents here. I just saw them."  
  
"Rita must have sent for them." Remus said to Ellie. Still she didn't say a thing.  
  
"What do you mean Rita sent for them?" asked Snape.  
  
"She saw me." said Remus, trembling in rage. "She talked to me... Can you explain how that was possible?"  
  
Suddenly, Severus understood what was going on. He turned to Ellie, and remembering all that had happened, his fury, the marriage and her confession, him leaving in pain... and he saw what must be happening inside her.  
  
"Ellie" he said, urgently "It wasn't me! You know I would never-"  
  
"You betrayed me!" cried Remus, in rage. "How could you! I trusted you!"  
  
"No!" said Severus "It wasn't me!"  
  
"Who was it then?" asked Ellie.  
  
Severus didn't know what to answer. It really was beyond him.  
  
"I don't know..." he said, defeated. He knew he seemed not only suspicious but guilty. He knew he wasn't... but he could not prove it. "Ellie, please. You must believe me!"  
  
"All I know was that Remus was seen." she said, trembling. She never thought that it would happen again. She looked at Severus and wondered if it was her fault, telling him all she had, about her marriage, about Remus and... about herself. It was too hard on him... but it still didn't justify what he had done.  
  
Suddenly, a rush of leaves interrupted her thoughts. Severus took her by the arm and forced her to the ground just as they heard "Stupefy"! Remus drooped face-first on the ground.  
  
"No!" cried Ellie. But Severus covered her mouth saying "Ssh! You'll get us caught too!" Ellie was struggling to get free. She wanted to save Remus, to take him away. But next moment, half a dozen Ministry Agents, and Rita Skeeter herself, entered the clearing. One of them turned Remus up with his foot and asked "Is this the man, mam?"  
  
"Yes" said Rita "That's the beast. But I don't think he was alone."  
  
"We'll search the park then."  
  
Two men carried Remus away, while the other four went for more Agents to help them.  
  
"Ellie, we must desapparate now or we'll be caught."  
  
"I don't care." she said, trying to stand up. "I must help him! Let me go!"  
  
"We're outnumbered. There are more of them coming."  
  
"You knew! Remus was right!"  
  
"No! I didn't know! I saw them, remember? I left you to check on the house again and they were already there!"  
  
"How can I believe you?!"  
  
"Listen, it doesn't matter what you believe now. It matters that the only way to save Lupin is to stay out of this for the moment. We must get help. We must desapparate before they return!"  
  
"I must be with Remus!"  
  
"No, Ellie. If you get caught you will go to Azkaban as well."  
  
"Then I will! I'm not a coward."  
  
"No." he said in a serious voice "You're not. But you know you can't go to Azkaban now... It's not just your life anymore."  
  
Ellie stopped fighting and arguing.  
  
"You're right." she said. And she desapparated.  
  
Severus desapparated right after her and when the Ministry Agents inspected the whole park, they didn't found out a thing. 


	27. Chapter XXVII Life in a Cell

Chapter XXVII - Life in a Cell  
  
Ellie apparated at her house but didn't stay long. She took her broom and flew out by the window in less than a minute. She didn't want to rest, she didn't want to remain in a house where everything reminded her of Remus. She was feeling terribly lonely and guilty. Because of her ambition, Remus was now in Azkaban. She had everything so close and now it was all out of her reach... maybe forever.  
  
Mounted on her broom, flying, feeling the night air rush through her hair, all she wanted was to get to Azkaban to see Remus. She could easily Apparate nearer the island, but she felt like flying. It seemed the night air cooled her thoughts and refreshed her mind.  
  
It was nearly the crack of dawn when she arrived at the feared island. The visits period must be nearly starting. She was closing in on the island and she could already feel her insides growing colder and colder. When she landed, the cold nearly made her drop dead.  
  
Looking at the towers, she quickly took out her wand. She thought about Remus embracing her and, "Expecto Patronum!", a beautiful silvery white lioness shot out of her wand and roared when it touched the ground. Ellie stroke her in the neck and the lioness purred like a kitten. She was feeling warmer and protected already.  
  
Leaving her broom by the parking, she realized there weren't many people there. In fact, the place was still deserted. She knew there weren't many visitors in Azkaban. People feared the prison and their guards more than almost anything else.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Ellie took a step towards the door, accompanied by her Patronus. And both figures of female strength walked along side until they found the Azkaban guards. The Dementors were amongst the foulest creatures on earth. They fed on human happy feelings and sucked them away, leaving only unhappiness, despair and anguish.  
  
She felt her insides growing colder and she ordered her Patronus to get nearer. She was afraid she had made a mistake, coming into such a place, but she had to see him. The lioness was walking so close now they touched each other oftenly while they walked. But Ellie was feeling warmer, even though there were so many of them!  
  
She asked to see Remus Lupin and one Dementor, keeping away from the lioness, walked her to his cell.  
  
The prison was dreadful. You could hear people screaming and mumbling all over the place. The foul stench filled her senses, but she remained on her way, resting a hand on her Patronus' warm body. She kept remembering the place was filled with people who were present the night her father was murdered. "Stop it!" she thought to herself. "I must remain sane!"  
  
They finally reached a very lonely cell. Inside was a man, curling in a corner. Ellie walked inside, her eyes filled with tears. Her lioness remained threateningly at the door, and the Dementor eventually gave up and went away. Remus seemed to have felt the warmth of the Patronus because he opened his eyes suddenly. When he saw Ellie, he tried to stand up to run to her, but Ellie got to him first. They embraced, kissed, hugged, and cried in each other's arms. Ellie wanted to say she was sorry. Remus wanted to thank her for coming. And both of them wanted to say how much they loved each other. But all the words were useless when so many feelings could be shared, protected by the lioness who was now purring at the door.  
  
After a few minutes, they seated on the floor and Remus found his voice.  
  
"I have the photos" he said weakly and he took them from his robes. "Have them before they make me hand them. They already took my wand." he added, sadly.  
  
She hid them in her robes and said "I'm sure there will be a process, but I'm planning on visiting Dumbledore. Fudge practically does what Dumbledore suggests. And I'm sure he'll help us."  
  
"I'm feeling so weak, Ellie... I don't know if I can make it."  
  
"I will take you out of here, you hear me? You are going to be free in no time! Look at me, Remus."  
  
He looked in her eyes. He loved her eyes. "You are so beautiful."  
  
"You will be sucked out of all your happy thoughts." she said. "And we have many happy memories till now. But you must concentrate on hope and faith. They're not happy feelings. They can't take them away from you."  
  
"I keep seeing the day I was bitten... James dead... Sirius..." moaned Remus.  
  
"Remus, you must forget it all!" she said firmly. "You must grab to that hope of being released. I will be working non-stop to take you out of here. You must have faith. That's all you can think about."  
  
"I'm not afraid of dying... but I love you too much to let my heart be emptied like this. I feel so lonely here..." And he rested his head on her shoulder... then on her breast... then on her belly... then on her lap, and remained there, feeling loved and protected, taking the chance to abandon himself on her caring. Ellie stroke his hair. She wanted so much to tell him! Two inches inside the skin where he was resting now, was a tiny little hope with both their names written in every cell.  
  
She had just found out the evening before, but with the terrible task ahead, she thought it would be better to tell him after they had the photos. And now she couldn't tell him. It was way too much happiness to have in such a place. The Dementors would not leave him alone anymore.  
  
And so she had to keep it away from him while he was there. But, somehow, he had chosen her lap to rest on. Maybe he could feel the strength that was coming from inside, telling him in his little voice "Dad, you must survive". Maybe he knew, somehow, that he had to be strong because of that tinny being that was growing inside her. Ellie sighed and kept stroking his hair. Remus was still lying down on her belly. And the lioness, resting by the door, was purring and watching how love was truly unmistakably the greatest piece of magic human hands could reach. 


	28. Chapter XXVIII The First Hope

Chapter XXVII - Life in a Cell  
  
Ellie apparated at her house but didn't stay long. She took her broom and flew out by the window in less than a minute. She didn't want to rest, she didn't want to remain in a house where everything reminded her of Remus. She was feeling terribly lonely and guilty. Because of her ambition, Remus was now in Azkaban. She had everything so close and now it was all out of her reach... maybe forever.  
  
Mounted on her broom, flying, feeling the night air rush through her hair, all she wanted was to get to Azkaban to see Remus. She could easily Apparate nearer the island, but she felt like flying. It seemed the night air cooled her thoughts and refreshed her mind.  
  
It was nearly the crack of dawn when she arrived at the feared island. The visits period must be nearly starting. She was closing in on the island and she could already feel her insides growing colder and colder. When she landed, the cold nearly made her drop dead.  
  
Looking at the towers, she quickly took out her wand. She thought about Remus embracing her and, "Expecto Patronum!", a beautiful silvery white lioness shot out of her wand and roared when it touched the ground. Ellie stroke her in the neck and the lioness purred like a kitten. She was feeling warmer and protected already.  
  
Leaving her broom by the parking, she realized there weren't many people there. In fact, the place was still deserted. She knew there weren't many visitors in Azkaban. People feared the prison and their guards more than almost anything else.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Ellie took a step towards the door, accompanied by her Patronus. And both figures of female strength walked along side until they found the Azkaban guards. The Dementors were amongst the foulest creatures on earth. They fed on human happy feelings and sucked them away, leaving only unhappiness, despair and anguish.  
  
She felt her insides growing colder and she ordered her Patronus to get nearer. She was afraid she had made a mistake, coming into such a place, but she had to see him. The lioness was walking so close now they touched each other oftenly while they walked. But Ellie was feeling warmer, even though there were so many of them!  
  
She asked to see Remus Lupin and one Dementor, keeping away from the lioness, walked her to his cell.  
  
The prison was dreadful. You could hear people screaming and mumbling all over the place. The foul stench filled her senses, but she remained on her way, resting a hand on her Patronus' warm body. She kept remembering the place was filled with people who were present the night her father was murdered. "Stop it!" she thought to herself. "I must remain sane!"  
  
They finally reached a very lonely cell. Inside was a man, curling in a corner. Ellie walked inside, her eyes filled with tears. Her lioness remained threateningly at the door, and the Dementor eventually gave up and went away. Remus seemed to have felt the warmth of the Patronus because he opened his eyes suddenly. When he saw Ellie, he tried to stand up to run to her, but Ellie got to him first. They embraced, kissed, hugged, and cried in each other's arms. Ellie wanted to say she was sorry. Remus wanted to thank her for coming. And both of them wanted to say how much they loved each other. But all the words were useless when so many feelings could be shared, protected by the lioness who was now purring at the door.  
  
After a few minutes, they seated on the floor and Remus found his voice.  
  
"I have the photos" he said weakly and he took them from his robes. "Have them before they make me hand them. They already took my wand." he added, sadly.  
  
She hid them in her robes and said "I'm sure there will be a process, but I'm planning on visiting Dumbledore. Fudge practically does what Dumbledore suggests. And I'm sure he'll help us."  
  
"I'm feeling so weak, Ellie... I don't know if I can make it."  
  
"I will take you out of here, you hear me? You are going to be free in no time! Look at me, Remus."  
  
He looked in her eyes. He loved her eyes. "You are so beautiful."  
  
"You will be sucked out of all your happy thoughts." she said. "And we have many happy memories till now. But you must concentrate on hope and faith. They're not happy feelings. They can't take them away from you."  
  
"I keep seeing the day I was bitten... James dead... Sirius..." moaned Remus.  
  
"Remus, you must forget it all!" she said firmly. "You must grab to that hope of being released. I will be working non-stop to take you out of here. You must have faith. That's all you can think about."  
  
"I'm not afraid of dying... but I love you too much to let my heart be emptied like this. I feel so lonely here..." And he rested his head on her shoulder... then on her breast... then on her belly... then on her lap, and remained there, feeling loved and protected, taking the chance to abandon himself on her caring. Ellie stroke his hair. She wanted so much to tell him! Two inches inside the skin where he was resting now, was a tiny little hope with both their names written in every cell.  
  
She had just found out the evening before, but with the terrible task ahead, she thought it would be better to tell him after they had the photos. And now she couldn't tell him. It was way too much happiness to have in such a place. The Dementors would not leave him alone anymore.  
  
And so she had to keep it away from him while he was there. But, somehow, he had chosen her lap to rest on. Maybe he could feel the strength that was coming from inside, telling him in his little voice "Dad, you must survive". Maybe he knew, somehow, that he had to be strong because of that tinny being that was growing inside her. Ellie sighed and kept stroking his hair. Remus was still lying down on her belly. And the lioness, resting by the door, was purring and watching how love was truly unmistakably the greatest piece of magic human hands could reach. 


	29. Chapter XXIX The Unexpected Prisoner

Chapter XXIX - The Unexpected Prisoner  
  
The lioness Patronus was now familiarized with Remus' Azkaban cell since she had been coming everyday for the past week. The trial date had finally been established and Ellie and Remus were spending the last afternoon before it in each other's arms. He kept saying how weak he felt, she kept repressing that strong desire of telling him about the baby.  
  
"And tomorrow..." he said.  
  
"Dumbledore will be on our side." interrupted Ellie "You have nothing to worry about." When it was time to leave, she kissed him and said "tomorrow you will sleep in my bed. I promise."  
  
And with this promise, she, and her lioness, left.  
  
This time, there was no Dementor at the door to lead the way and, although she thought it a good thing at the beginning, she found herself lost in the corridors after no more than 5 minutes. Azkaban was like a giant maze. Unable to return to Remus' cell, or to find the way out, she was passing by corridors of cell after cell with prisoners screaming or just moaning in agony, when-  
  
"Lost, are you?" said a voice that made Ellie jump a foot in the air.  
  
"No," she said, turning to the prisoner who had talked "I was just-"  
  
"Having a stroll, I guess." he interrupted. He had tangled black hair and a sardonic expression. And then, suddenly... Ellie recognised him.  
  
"Sirius...?"  
  
This time it was the prisoner who jumped a foot in the air.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked in a hoarse voice.  
  
"Funny that you are the one who changed, but I'm the one who recognised first, Siri." There was a long silence. Then "Ellie...?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"It is you!" he screamed in maddened joy. "Hey!" he shouted to nowhere in particular. "Ellie is here!" And he laughed so loud that Ellie's lioness began to hiss and spit at him. "So..." he said after calming himself down. "How are you?"  
  
"You're... different."  
  
"I'm mad!" and he smiled so wickedly Ellie was convinced that it was so. "I'm a murderer now, didn't they tell you?" and his eyes were glittering with a strange rage.  
  
"Sirius... How can you..."  
  
"Be so cold? These walls make us cold. Cold and stone dead." And a long heavy silence fell between them.  
  
"Siri..." she said, breaking the silence "did you really-"  
  
"No." he said simply, suddenly very serious.  
  
Ellie had seen a Fidelius Charm break very recently and was very impressed by Sirius' voice.  
  
"Than, how-"  
  
"How indeed!" he said laughing so hard this time it started scaring her. She was almost glad when a Dementor appeared. Sirius immediately recoiled like a snake to a corner of the cell, swearing in a low voice.  
  
"Th-the way out, please." said Ellie.  
  
The Dementor turned, leading the way. Ellie looked one last time at Sirius and wished hard that the trial was over soon. 


	30. Chapter XXX The Trial

Chapter XXX - The Trial  
  
Ellie almost didn't sleep that night. She was sure Dumbledore would get them out of this, but fearful thoughts kept bumping into her mind as fearful thought always do the night before something important.  
  
By next morning, she arrived quite early at the Ministry for the Hearing, but she barely had time to talk to anyone, since she was quickly pushed to one of the witness's rooms, to make sure she would have no contact with anyone before she testified.  
  
She didn't even see Remus.  
  
Alone, in the room, she waited for someone to call her, wondering what was happening. She knew all the accusation witnesses would go first, which included Rita Skeeter and some Ministry Agents, at least. Then Dumbledore would take charge in the Defence (she didn't know who represented the Accusation part) and she would be called to testify.  
  
Finally, half an hour later, she was called. She entered the court room where there was Cornelius Fudge, in a judge-like position, with Dumbledore, on his right side, and a short, toad-like woman on his left, which should stand by the Accusation.  
  
Behind them there was a crowd of people watching and people who had already testified. And in front of them, on the far left corner of the room, seated on a chair behind some short arches, was Remus. When she saw him, pale and tired, all she wanted to do was run to him, hold him, warm him. He looked exhausted and numb, but when he saw her he smiled and his face seemed to have gained new strength.  
  
She seated on a chair, on the right corner, opposite to Remus, and waited. Dumbledore stood up and she noticed his eyes were twinkling.  
  
"Miss Wood, we have already established that you were bitten by a werewolf. Is this correct?"  
  
"Yes." said Ellie at once, who had been instructed by Dumbledore to agree with him in every sentence that had "correct" in it.  
  
"That is what we could see by the pictures taken by Miss Skeeter. Unfortunately, the identity of the attacker is not shown on the pictures" and Dumbledore seemed puzzled.  
  
Ellie tried to conceal her shock. She never thought of that!  
  
"So" continued Dumbledore "we have no evidence about who the attacker was. All we have is you as a victim and so, your word as such." He paused and she could see that this argument was not a surprise to anyone in the room. They were probably discussing it for long, for she noticed Rita Skeeter had very red cheeks and the Accusation representative, although smiling, was looking sour.  
  
"Miss Wood" said Dumbledore, very clearly "do you know the identity of your attacker?"  
  
"No." said Ellie, perhaps too quickly. "I have no idea!"  
  
"Miss Skeeter" and Rita Skeeter blushed even more "is under the impression that you saw your attacker transform from human to his, or hers, wolf form. Did you see it?" "No." she said again. "I was just in my room when this. wolf came by the window and attacked me."  
  
"We saw your brave defence against this attacker." said Dumbledore, and there was a murmur of assent in the room. "Miss Skeeter also seems convinced that you were living with Mr. Lupin for sometime. Is that correct?"  
  
"Yes, it is."  
  
"And she thinks he was the one who attacked you."  
  
And suddenly, Ellie felt a thought entering her mind. She looked at Severus for the first time since she had entered and she noticed his lip twitching.  
  
"It couldn't have been him." said Ellie, understanding what Severus had just thought. "He was staying at Sev- with Professor Snape."  
  
"Ah!" said Dumbledore "We thought so. Professor Snape also gave evidence on this subject and there seems to be no doubt left, since you rectified it. I think this clears up the matter and I think this proves, once and for all, that there is no need for this trial to continue, since there is no evidence, quite the contrary, that Mr. Lupin attacked Miss Wood."  
  
"Well" said Fudge "it does seem that everything-"  
  
"Hem hem" said a female voice, and Ellie, looking at the source of the sound, found the Accusation representative smiling again.  
  
"Yes, Miss Umbridge." said Fudge "Is there anything you would like to add?"  
  
"It seems to me that there are certain. details that we have missed. Like, if Miss Wood wasn't attacked by Mr. Lupin, why didn't she report it to the Ministry?"  
  
"I was in a deep sleep, as is everyone who is bitten by a werewolf, and when I woke up, since I didn't have a clue on my aggressor's identity, I didn't think there was anything I could do."  
  
There was a mumble of agreement in the room. But Umbridge didn't seem convinced.  
  
"Miss Wood, I think you are aware of a potion, the Lupos Origus Potion, that can show if a suspected werwolf was responsible for an attack."  
  
"Yes," smiled Ellie, sarcastically "I know. I helped inventing it."  
  
"So you must know that it is much more accurate that, say, words and testimonies."  
  
"Much more accurate." said Ellie, realizing where all this was ending. "But you must have a suspect."  
  
"As we do now. Of course you also know that we cannot use it without the victim's permission. but since now you are one of. them. I'm sure you would like to know who the reponsible was."  
  
There was silence in the room and Umbridge smiled friendly.  
  
"I couldn't care less, actually" said Ellie.  
  
"And why?" said Umbridge with a triumphant smile.  
  
"Because I am not one of them." answered Ellie, coolly.  
  
There was a murmur of surprise in the room.  
  
"You are not one of them?" asked Umbridge, very slowly. "Come girl, how can you not be? You were bitten, weren't you?"  
  
"Yes, but I assure you I am not."  
  
"Yes, Dolores" said Dumbledore, suddenly getting up "I forgot to mention that, after the attack, Miss Wood fell in the deep sleep of the bite and Professor Snape, who happened to pass by her house, found her and took care of her. He gave her, daily, a potion that him and Ellie had been brewing and it had this remakable effect of preventing her from becoming a werewolf." The room was suddenly filled with the whispers of everone chatting and talking to their neighbours. Everyone was tremendously surprised by the turn of the events. "So Miss Wood is no more a werewolf than I am. Or than you, Dolores, if my word isn't good enough."  
  
"My, how extraordinary!" said Fudge "And it worked?"  
  
"Hem hem."  
  
"Yes, Miss Umbridge?"  
  
"Miss Wood, were you expecting an attack?"  
  
"No." said Ellie.  
  
"Than how come you had the potion with you already?"  
  
"I am a potion inventor. I was studying a potion that could make werwolves safe, and then the Ministry convinced me to droop it and, since I was in the subject, I invented something much more useful. Don't you think it's useful to keep people from becoming werwolves?"  
  
"And you were bitten the same month you did the potion? That's such a coincidence."  
  
"If being bitten by werewolves was that rare, I wouldn't have invented it in the first place."  
  
"And isn't it odd that you were studying such a potion, when living with Mr. Lupin, and that he just suddenly vanishes in the night of your attack? I find it hard to believe that it wasn't the same person."  
  
"I don't remember seeing you that evening." said Ellie. She noticed Dumbledore smiled at this. "Maybe you were the one who attacked me."  
  
"Don't be silly girl! I am not a werewolf."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Positive." Umbridge said acidily.  
  
"Can you prove it?"  
  
Umbridge turned red and said, less friendly "We keep track of every werewolf in the Department for the Restriction of Dark Creatures."  
  
"Am I on this list?"  
  
"Certanly."  
  
"Than as I said before, the list is wrong because I am not a werewolf. And contrary to some people, I can prove it."  
  
The room had gone very quiet in expectation.  
  
"How can you prove it?" defied Umbridge.  
  
Ellie smiled. She looked at Remus and then at the audience.  
  
"As any expert in the Dark Arts will tell you, the werewolf invasion in the blood kills anything living inside the werewolf's body, with the exception of himself. Thus, a werewolf is rarely sick because no organism can survive long enough inside his body." The audience was listening with mild interest. Umbridge had a very closed expression. Severus was looking both proud and broken. But Remus was suddenly looking at her very seriously.  
  
"That aplies to any human form as well. As you know, werewolve females cannot breed."  
  
Umbridge twitched her lip in what was clearly an expression of "Thank goodness for that!"  
  
"Babies are destroyed during the transformation." explained Ellie.  
  
"Miss Wood" interrupted Fudge "Interesting is that all may be, could you just go to the point?"  
  
Remus looked at Ellie very intensely. Surely it couldn't be what he was thinking. Ellie looked at him and just said "I am pregnant."  
  
The room exploded in whispers and murmurs of surprise and astonishment. Umbridge looked positively defeated. She understood she had lost the battle even before Dumbledore reminded everyone that there had been a full moon two weeks before, and that if she was indeed a werewolf the baby had been distroyed by then. Fudge was looking flabergasted. Severus looked miserable.  
  
But all that missed Remus' attention, for suddenly there was nothing else in the world apart from him, Ellie. and what he had heard. She was still looking at him, smiling.  
  
Pregnant.  
  
Remus felt his heart beating fast inside his chest. His hears, listening a kind of buzz, didn't hear Fudge's voice saying that since there was no evidence on the identity of the attacker, and since Ellie wasn't even transforming, there was no point in continuing the session. Remus didn't catch Umbridge's expression (which, alone, indicated his freedom), didn't hear Rita Skeeter curse and didn't even see when everyone got up and slowly left the room, leaving them alone.  
  
As if he was dreaming, he saw Ellie walking to him, taking his hand and resting it on her belly.  
  
And only then did he wake up from all the confusing sensations that took over him. He felt her body warm under his touch and before he realised what he was doing, he embraced her tightly, feeling a huge sensation of freedom, love and warmth. He felt like if he was being born again, like a radiant morning shining after a long and cold night, his mind seemed greater than the Universe. And when he kissed her he felt his whole body melt and shake in emotion at the same time.  
  
He wanted to tell her that he loved her, but suddenly it didn't seem enough for what he was felling. So he just held her tightly against his body.  
  
And when Remus revised his whole life, he felt that they had performed their greatest piece of magic yet. 


	31. Chapter XXXI Back on Track

Chapter XXXI - Back on Track  
  
Outside the court room, everything was beautiful at Remus' eyes. The empty walls were beautiful, the people greeting him were beautiful, even Umbridge's grumpy look was beautiful! He felt like singing and dancing but first things first, he thought to himself.  
  
And so he reached Dumbledore as fast as he could.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore!" he said "I just wanted to thank you. I never would have made it without you."  
  
"Yes" said Ellie, next to him "Is there anything we could do?"  
  
"Actually, there is something I would like very much." said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. "One of those wonderful tees of yours, Ellie."  
  
"Certainly." said Ellie smiling.  
  
"And a word." completed Dumbledore in a more serious tone. "Can we meet at your place in half an hour, Ellie?"  
  
"Sure, we'll be waiting."  
  
And half an hour later the three of them sat quietly in Ellie's little kitchen.  
  
"I still don't know what happened with the break-in charge." she said after a while.  
  
"Remus was obviously cleared." said Dumbledore.  
  
"That's what happened while you were away." explained Remus.  
  
"So that's why it took you so long to call me."  
  
"It was fairly quickly, as a matter of fact." said Dumbledore. "All I had to do was remind some Ministers for Magic that some of us aren't always that good as Apparating and that anyone can make a mistake."  
  
"Words that made Fudge blush to the hears" completed Remus with a smile "and quickly say 'Yes, yes, that can happen.'"  
  
"So you got away of a break-in saying you had Apparated at the wrong place?" asked Ellie amazed.  
  
"Generally, yes" said Dumbledore "Since nothing had been taken from Rita Skeeter's house, it was not difficult to argue."  
  
"But. the photos." said Ellie.  
  
"Oh, the photos were all well guarded in the drawer." said Dumbledore "When Rita Skeeter came to look for them, they were already there."  
  
"Did she take so long to look for them? And who put them back?"  
  
"Severus told me all about what had happened. Once you gave me the photos and I noticed that there was nothing that could incriminate Remus, I decided to restore them to their original place. And with a little help from the Time-Turner, it was eas-"  
  
"A Time-Turner?" said Ellie, almost dropping her cup of tee. "A real Time- Turner? Do they really exist?"  
  
"Yes, Ellie" smiled Dumbledore "at least one of them does. As for the other two the legend speaks about I can only say I have no idea if they still exist."  
  
"I thought it was only a legend." said Ellie amazed.  
  
"Fortunately, that's what most people think." said Remus "I myself thought it was a legend before Professor Dumbledore told me what the defence was going to be like."  
  
"But. how did one of them survive? How were they created?"  
  
"The legend goes" started Dumbledore "that there were three Hour-Glasses created in an incantation and that they were fit in a necklace each, a necklace made with magical stones. Each piece was a unique magical object that enabled the user to recapitulate moments of his life. You would go back one day for each turn of the hour glass and just look at your past, like a spectator. He created one for his son, one for his wife, and one for himself. The creator, whose name did not survive till this date, died some years after his creation, completely unaware of what would become of them. They were kept by his son who used them often to remember his parents. His mother had also died. But an evil wizard, as there always are, hearing about such extraordinary object, managed to steal them and bewitched the stones with such a powerful incantation that it is unbreakable to this day. Instead of just reliving those moments, the wizard made it possible for the person to interact with the past as well. He created the three Time-Turners and wasted no time in using them. He was killed, of course, by himself when he decided to pay a visit to his younger self, who didn't find it remotely funny and destroyed what he thought was a polyjuice effect on one of his enemies. One of the Time-Turners, it is said, was destroyed during their duel. The 2 remaining Time-Turners went to the hands of his mistress. She was as evil has he was, but, surprisingly enough, she didn't try to change anything in her past, and so she never actually used them wrongly. But her newest lover found them a brilliant piece of magic, and tried to go back in time to kill an enemy when he was more vulnerable. He didn't manage, of course, and was killed himself. The Time-Turner he used was rescued by another woman and she quickly understood the power of the object. Wisely enough, after seeing her son being killed by himself, for he too thought it was too tempting, she destroyed the second Time-Turner. The third Time- Turner, it is said, met his end at the hands of another wizard who tried to rescue a dead friend. He didn't succeed and he died in the process. The Time-Turner was broke by the curse that killed him."  
  
"That's the legend I knew. With lesser details." said Ellie.  
  
"But. one of them survived." said Dumbledore. "Nobody knows exactly which one. And no one knows who made the change. Because the currently existing Time-Turner does not allow you to go one day back in time unless you turn it 24 times. Now, each turn is only one hour, instead of one day. I have my suspicions that it was the second Time-Turner who made it till this day, and that the witch that lost her son realised that it probably wouldn't have happened if it only turned back one hour at the time. But this is only my suspicion. The fact that this woman was Rowena Ravenclaw's mother as well, makes me believe that that's the reason the object was hidden in Hogwarts" and he winked.  
  
"And how did you do it?" asked Ellie, still amazed with the story.  
  
"When I saw that there was no harm in returning the photos, I took the Time- Turner and went back just in time to see Remus taking them from the drawer. I waited for him to exit and restored them to their original place. Since neither of you knew about the Time-Turner, there was nothing I could do to help you. But I still managed to warn Severus that I was using it and that it was essential that Ellie was kept out of this."  
  
"But. why couldn't you warn Remus about the Skeeter woman?" asked Ellie.  
  
"Because if he hadn't been caught you wouldn't have come for my help. And if you hadn't come for my help, I couldn't be there, using the Time-Turner. You see how dangerous it is to travel in time? If there is one single thing that you change that can make it impossible for the user of the Time-Turner to be where he is. the user automatically ceases to exist."  
  
"Oh." said Ellie "That is a really dangerous thing."  
  
And they remained in silence for some moments.  
  
"But the thing you wanted to talk to us about." said Remus.  
  
"Yes" said Dumbledore "I wanted to know if you are still interested in registering the Wolfsbane Potion."  
  
"Of course I am, sir!" she said at once "But I don't think they'll let me. For one thing, I'm not in the Confederation anymore, and only Confederation wizards can register. po.tions." Ellie was looking at an owl that had just entered by the window, dropped a letter in her lap and flew away again. She looked at the letter and saw the Confederation of Potion Makers' crest. She quickly looked at Dumbledore.  
  
"Oh" he said, his eyes twinkling in delight "they were quicker than me. I wanted to tell you the good news, but Fudge has just spoiled it for me."  
  
Ellie was still looking at Dumbledore amazed when he said "Well, open it! It's not a Howler, you know?"  
  
She broke the crest, a million emotions taking over her. She missed opening that seal. The last time she had opened one was when she was expelled from the Confederation. She took the letter, read it, looked up at Dumbledore and Remus, read it again, and, still looking puzzled, read it once more.  
  
"What is it, Ellie?" asked Remus, who was getting worried. It looked like the letter had not very good news.  
  
She read it yet again and then gave it to Remus, who took it eagerly. His eyes read the lines, one after the other, and a smiled widened and widened in his face, until he finally finished reading it and jumped to her neck.  
  
"Oh, Ellie! I'm so proud of you!" he said, kissing her repeatedly on the cheek.  
  
"There must be a mistake." said Ellie. But just as she had said it, another owl came flying by the window. He seemed very distressed. He dropped the letter and waited for an answer. Ellie was utterly confused to find the Confederation's crest in this one as well.  
  
She tore it open and read it quickly. Then her jaw dropped.  
  
"You see?" said Remus, delightedly, reading over her shoulder "there's no mistake, you silly girl! The owl just arrived later, that's all!"  
  
Dumbledore, who had picked the first letter said "yes, I think you should have got that one first. It doesn't make much sense to be invited to participate in the Creative Potions Awards if you are not a member of the Confederation. But I believe that that one corrects the mistake." Ellie nodded, blushing suddenly. "Well, what are you waiting for? Sign the form to be a member of the Convention of Potion Makers again. The owl is obviously waiting for you."  
  
Ellie read the second letter once again to make sure she wasn't dreaming.  
  
"Dear E. Wood,  
  
It is with the greatest pleasure that we invite you to register as a member on the Confederation of Potion Makers. It is an honour reachable only by the finest potion makers but we believe your skills qualify you for it.  
  
Hoping to see a lot more work from you in the future, Yours Sincerely,  
  
Warlock Al. Kemest President of the Confederation of Potion Makers Order of Merlin First Class, Honorary Member of the Warlock Convention  
  
PS - Please, fill the attached form and send us back by owl." 


	32. Chapter XXXII The Words Unsaid

Chapter XXXII - The Words Unsaid  
  
The huge hall was filled with rows and rows of small cabinets, pretty much like a parking lot that had telephone booths instead of cars. Out of one of them, every minute, especially during the early hours of the morning, a person would come out. It would be a strange sight for any Muggle, to see so many people coming out from telephone booths without anyone ever coming in! But for a wizard this would not be strange at all. For a wizard this would be a really well planed Apparating Hall, one of the few in Britain with so much traffic.  
  
This Apparating routine was very common for every wizard who was using one of those booths and very few of them experienced the emotion that Ellie felt when she stepped out hers.  
  
She looked around, amazed at how many Apparating spaces had been created since she had been there the last time. And all around her were wizards in a hurry to get upstairs, to the Potions Confederation Building.  
  
She grabbed her letter inside her robes to make sure she still had it and that it wasn't a dream. Entering that building so many years after she had been expelled was filling her heart with emotions she could barely control.  
  
Crossing the main entrance doors, she walked into a beautiful room over the immense ocean of black marble that was the floor. She contemplated the walls and the ceiling, walking slowly, enjoying every bit of being back.  
  
She noticed there were a lot of young wizards she had never met and, approaching the counter, she noticed she didn't know the reception witch as well.  
  
"May I help you?" say the plump witch.  
  
"Yes" and Ellie took the letter from her robes "I'm here to accept the invitation to participate in the Creative Potions Awards."  
  
"Corridor A, to your left, sec-"  
  
"Second door on the right, yes" smiled Ellie "I know." she said with unsuppressed emotion.  
  
And before the witch could say anything, she walked confidently to the room.  
  
If Ellie was expecting a big and warming welcome from some of the older members she did know, she was sadly and quickly removed from the thought.  
  
As she entered corridor A, she came across Ametist Finn, but if she recognised Ellie she certainly didn't show. Ellie, who was about to greet her when she turned around, looked a bit disappointed. "I wasn't gone for that long." she thought to herself. But she found, before reaching the second door to the right, that another two wizards seemed to have forgotten who she was.  
  
Ellie shrugged and knocked at the door. The door opened and Ellie walked in. She found a wizard looking for something behind the balcony.  
  
"Hum. Hi!" said Ellie.  
  
The wizard quickly stood up, smiling, but upon seeing her he could not pretend, like the others, that he didn't recognise her. In fact, he made such a frightened face when he saw her that Ellie was sure something fishy was going on.  
  
"Oh! Hello. Miss." and the wizard waited for her to introduce herself.  
  
"Why, Chester, I never thought that you could forget me." said Ellie sarcastically.  
  
"Oh! It's you, Ellie!" and he made a big gesture as if he had just remembered who she was.  
  
"Wow, Chester, your memory is almost as good as your lies." she said coldly.  
  
"And to what do I owe the honour?" he asked visibly touched by her sarcasm.  
  
Ellie merely put the letter in the balcony. Chester looked at it as if it was the first time he was seeing it.  
  
"Oh! So you've been invited to participate-"  
  
"Yes, Chester, I have. Can we just hurry up with the formalities?" interrupted Ellie, who was getting bored of his "Oh!"s.  
  
Chester quickly took the paper and disappeared behind a door.  
  
There was a knock on the door and, opening, Ellie heard someone walking in but she didn't even bother to turn around and look. She was now sure that everyone would choose to ignore that she existed.  
  
However-  
  
"I'm very pleased to see you here." she heard a man's voice saying.  
  
She quickly turned around, smiling. "Sevy, finally a friendly face."  
  
"Not a very warm welcome I suppose." he said.  
  
"No. not at all. Everyone just seems to have forgotten that I exist. I just met Ametist and she-"  
  
"Here you are!" said Chester coming in. He suddenly noticed they were not alone and made a very worried look. "I'm sorry, Professor, sir."  
  
"Chester is another one who only remembered me through great effort over his memory." she said annoyed.  
  
"Can I get you anything, Professor Snape, sir?"  
  
"Weren't you attending to the lady?" he asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Huh."  
  
"Yes, Chester, where are my papers?"  
  
He quickly put them on the balcony and pointed the inumerous places where she had to sign.  
  
"And, for you, sir?" he said as soon as Ellie started filling the form.  
  
"Another one of these."  
  
"Certainly, sir." and he disappeared behind the doors again.  
  
"So," said Ellie "we're competing against each other. again." and she smiled.  
  
"I guess so." said Severus "Finally I get my worthy opponent back." He looked at her very deeply and, after a moment of silence, said "It's good to have you back."  
  
"It's good to be back." she said "Except for the part of people ignoring me."  
  
"You can't blame them" he said with something that greatly resembled a sigh "The stories that were going around by the time that you left were not very good. Did you know your expulsion was voted in one of the meetings, while you were merely suspended?"  
  
"No." she said.  
  
"Well, there were not many votes in favour for you to stay. So your return, although a victory for you, is a defeat for many people here."  
  
Ellie, not finding the words to express her sudden sadness, went back to her form and signed one last time.  
  
***  
  
It was almost noon. Ellie and Severus had been chattering all morning in one of the Confederation's Cafes, receiving some reproachful looks now and then.  
  
"As I have said before" said Severus "I'm most happy to see you entering the contest. I'm sure there will be no possible competition this year." he added "Although my potion for crossing the black fire is most effective, it is only a children's game. No practical use whatsoever. No one sets a black fire free for no reason. They are too complex to create and have almost no use. And no one in their right mind will want to cross one anyway."  
  
"I don't think I will get many votes" she said, looking at another repressed scowl.  
  
"Well, you will have mine." he said.  
  
Ellie looked at him and suddenly became very serious.  
  
"I'm sorry I ever thought that you could betray us."  
  
"I'm sorry if I ever did anything that could lead you to think that I could."  
  
Another moment of silence and then-  
  
"Severus, I-"  
  
"I know, Ellie. I have some things to take care as well."  
  
And they both stood up and left. When they reached the parting of the ways, a few feet from the corridor door, Ellie turned to Severus and smiled.  
  
"Sometimes it looks like you can read my mind." she said, with a wink.  
  
Severus looked up from his crooked nose and faced Ellie. She felt a strange shiver go through her body when she met his dark eyes this time. He had that fire burning inside of them, the fire he used to have when he looked at her so many years before.  
  
"I'm sorry if I had to enter your thoughts. inside the court room." he said.  
  
"Oh, sure! I wasn't talking about that! I was. just kidding."  
  
But an awkward silence fell between them.  
  
"I mean" she said "if you hadn't done it, my testimony might have been less convincing. and Remus could have been." she couldn't even bring herself to say it. And Severus was still looking at her very closely. Ellie bit her lip. Severus took a step closer.  
  
"I'd never been inside your mind before." he said.  
  
Ellie felt her body quiver. She was suddenly very serious, as if trying to prevent him from entering her mind again, but she didn't say a thing, shaken by his words and by what he might have seen.  
  
"I know now that Remus is more than a teenager's passion." he said, sadly. She was listening very closely. What else did he see?  
  
"And that you have forgiven me for my. past."  
  
Anxiously, she devoured his every word. Severus took yet another step closer. What else did he see?  
  
"And I know" he said, almost smiling "that you want to name your child Severus, if it's a boy. But I'm sure she will be a girl, as beautiful and strong as you." Ellie wanted to talk, but she was still expecting him to say what else had he seen. Her lip was trembling in emotion and fear.  
  
Severus was now so close she could almost see herself reflected in his eyes. He took her hand and slowly pulled her to him. She offered no resistance. When they were barely touching he said in no more than a whisper: "And I know now that all I need to do is say 3 magical words to make you think twice about your marriage."  
  
Ellie felt her heart bumping hard, trying to jump out of her body. She knew that the "I love you" that he had never said in his life could plunge her heart in doubts and questions about what they were and what they could be. She had tried to hide it far and deep in her heart. but he had seen. he had read. he knew. She felt her hand tremble in his. Severus took a deep breath. He was fighting his own heart to be able to continue. "But I also know that that sort of doubt would only bring you pain and suffering. And I cannot let that happen. I." and he stopped. He wanted to say that he loved her too much to see it happening again. He took another deep breath. "You've suffered enough already. It is time for you to be happy. At last. And forever."  
  
He turned to leave. Ellie was still trembling but before she could stop herself she grabbed him by the robes "Severus!" and embraced him. Severus felt her body tighten to his and he had to control every fibber of his body and of his heart to be able to stand by what he had said.  
  
He felt she was melting in tears in his shoulder. When she released him she said "You don't need to say it anymore. I can see it in your eyes." And she gently touched his lips with her fingertips.  
  
"Thank you." she managed to say through her tears. Severus gently cleaned her tears from her sweet face.  
  
"Be happy, Ellie." he whispered "Be very happy."  
  
Ellie smiled, and she let her hand touch his face for one last time, like she had done the day of their first kiss, and Severus, taking her hand to his lips closed his eyes and kissed her palm. Then he closed her hand and smiling he said "If you ever need me."  
  
Ellie took her hand closer to her heart and said "I know where you'll be." And with a burning look, Severus summoned his every strength to turn around. He heard Ellie turning around and opening the door and he didn't resist the temptation to look at her again. She was leaving his life. forever.  
  
The doors closed behind her but Severus was still looking at the door as if he could still see her when a young man approached him.  
  
"Professor Snape! Just the man I wanted to see!"  
  
Severus looked distractedly at him. It was Mike Duckie, the famous Dangerous Dragons' coach. He had a bottle in his hands with a deep purple liquid.  
  
"I just wanted to thank you for the Healing Potion. My play- Are you alright, sir?" he asked, looking at the Potions Master lost look.  
  
Severus smiled and said "Do you know what its like to have had only one true love in your entire life?"  
  
Duckie felt a bit disconcerted, but answered "Uh. yes, sir.".  
  
"Well, I think she knows it too."  
  
And without another word, he turned around with a smile that expressed a man's ultimate happiness and left the Quidditch coach alone with his thoughts. 


	33. Chapter XXXIII The Creative Potions Awar

Chapter XXXIII - The Creative Potions Awards  
  
The room was filled with people. It was a large auditorium with a stage in front and some steps to the front rows of spectators where the nominees where seated.  
  
Ellie was seating in the second row with Remus and was wearing her best dress. She had it in her closet for far too long, but it still fitted. When Remus saw her, back home, he was so stunned that Ellie laughed and had to say "Finite Incantatem" before he reacted again. He then said "I'm sorry, Perseus stunned me with my wand" and shrugged, depositing a kiss in her cheek. And, pretending to bite her ear lobe, he whispered "I could say you look beautiful. but I'll leave it for later. when you take off the dress."  
  
Now, hand in hand, they waited anxiously for the Ceremony to get to their desired point. Finally, almost one hour and a half later (they had to deliver all sort of minor awards) the Ceremony was closing to an end and there was only the big final award left to deliver.  
  
A wizard appeared at the stage and started talking about the importance of this last award and naming some renowned wizards who had won it in the past. Still hand in hand, Remus and Ellie exchanged looks.  
  
"Does Severus know anything?" whispered Remus.  
  
"I talked to him today. He said I'm definitely one of the favourites."  
  
"And now to the big moment" said the wizard on the stage.  
  
An owl flew to the stage carrying a letter. The wizard took it and opened it.  
  
"And the winner for this year's Most Creative Potion Award is."  
  
Ellie could feel her stomach filled with butterflies. She felt Remus gently squeezing her hand. Her heart rumbled inside her chest.  
  
"This is actually expected" said the wizard, smiling "The winner is. Tobias Angriff! And his Straightening Hair Potion!"  
  
Ellie felt a buzz in her hear. Remus looked at her in concern. She gave him a small smile that said that she was ok. but he knew she wasn't. A Straightening Hair Potion?!  
  
All the rest happened fairly quickly. She was only vaguely aware of what was happening. She clapped at the end of Angriff's speech, she listened to the ending of the ceremony and when the show was over she left the room along with everyone else.  
  
Still hand in hand with Remus, silent, it was only when they reached the hall that she woke up from all the strange feeling of having lost something that meant her rehabilitation in the wizarding world. If for nothing else. the award would mean that now, every single journalist would be around her, wanting to know the fantastic story she had been through. Quickly and easily, her message would reach every werewolf. everywhere.  
  
Instead, they were all gathering around Tobias-Straightening-Hair-Potion- Angriff.  
  
All. except one.  
  
"So," said a familiar voice behind Ellie and Remus as they approached the exit doors "how does it feel to be defeated?"  
  
They turned around and there was Rita Skeeter, in her most shinning green costume, wearing a smile that was right with the handbag and with the irritating Quick-Quote-Quill.  
  
Ellie narrowed her eyes, but before she could do something, the Quill suddenly shivered and shot from the parchment where it was writing and started writing in huge letters, right above the exit doors, "Rita Skeeter is an ugly cow!" over and over again.  
  
Rita Skeeter gave such a cry of horror, and Ellie and Remus laughed so hard while the Quill kept writing in every little space of wall, that everyone turned to see what was happening. And between amusement and shock (and many assented smiles and giggles), Ellie and Remus quickly left the building, still laughing at what a hidden wand in Remus' pocket could do.  
  
***  
  
Next morning, Severus Snape arrived quite early at Ellie's house. He looked like he was the one who had lost.  
  
"I'm so sorry to come this early," he said, walking in "but I needed to see if you were ok. I lost you after the Quick-Quill's sudden need to write the truth, for a change. By the way" and he looked at Remus "Good spell. I must learn that one for some occasions." and he twitched his lips in what Remus took for a smile.  
  
Ellie offered him a seat. They were having breakfast at the time.  
  
"Thank you." he said and starting to talk very quickly "But tell me, are you ok? Are you very disappointed? Well, of course you are! What a stupid winner! Even my potion was better than that stupid Hair Potion. These lobbies make me sick. Of course, it could be a mistake in the counting of the votes. Yes, yes! We can still demand a recount-"  
  
"I'm fine, Sevy." she said calming him down. "Really." she added seeing his face. "I admit I thought I was going to win but-"  
  
"And you should have!" said Snape, banging his fist in the table and getting up again. "I still can't believe it that it was that stupid potion that won the award! Of course it's more profitable. I bet there is some big potion company after it who bought the awards. It dinguses me. Potion making is not an art anymore, it's a business."  
  
"I know" said Ellie "but try to calm down. It's only a prize. I wouldn't even have any place in this house to put the little cauldron's statuette, anyway." and she winked.  
  
"That's not true" said Remus "I'm sure there is still an empty spot on the sofa, right between the pillow and the 'Powerful Spells for House Cleaning' you left there last week." and he winked too.  
  
But Snape was still walking in circles.  
  
"Oh, calm down, will you?" said Ellie. "It looks like it was you who lost the award."  
  
"I just hate to see injustices like this." he muttered.  
  
"Do you?" said Ellie, giggling "I didn't know that. And my brother has fallen under the same impression that you like to take points out of Gryffindor out of no reason."  
  
Snape made a derisive gesture and muttered something like "Students aren't even proper wizards yet" and continued pacing around, while Ellie and Remus, shrugging to each other, returned to the rest of their breakfast.  
  
***  
  
A few hours later, long after Snape had left, Ellie was seated in Remus' lap playing with what was left from a late lunch when she touched the subject again.  
  
"You know. I really thought I would win." and she squashed the pea with what she was playing.  
  
"And you should have. It's like Severus said. It's all just marketing and business. For more curly haired people that can exist in the world, Wolfsbane is by far much more important. You know that, don't you?"  
  
"I know." and she rested her head in his shoulder. "How are you feeling?" she asked after a while.  
  
"Good."  
  
"I'm so glad the full moon is only today. I really needed you there with me."  
  
"You will always have me with you." and he kissed her hair. "All the process of creation and testing, all we found out about ourselves, and all we lived. together. is far more important than a small golden cauldron. And nobody can take that away from us."  
  
Ellie looked at him, right into those eyes that always made her heart beat faster, and flung her arms tightly around his neck.  
  
"You make me feel so good."  
  
He kissed her neck, her cheek, her ear lobe and whispered "You know. the full moon won't rise for a few hours."  
  
Ellie giggled "Yeah, I know."  
  
"And there's this little spot I wanted to show you, on the sofa, where the golden cauldron would fit." and he kissed her hand, looking at her wickedly.  
  
"Right between the pillow-" and she kissed his forehead.  
  
"And 'Powerful Spells'." he said, kissing the tip of her nose.  
  
"On the sofa." and she nibbled his earlobe.  
  
"Right." he said kissing her neck.  
  
Ellie leaned down to kiss him longly on the lips. Remus held her tightly in his arms and let her kiss him around and unbutton him.  
  
And, between kisses and giggles, love and passion, tender touch and soft desire, they never made it to the sofa. 


	34. Chapter XXXIV A New Life

Chapter XXXIV - A New Life  
  
It was just like she had always imagined. She had her best white robes and, facing Remus, she just let her heart speak.  
  
"I take you, Remus, as my husband, to love and to care, in richness and in poverty, in sickness and in health-"  
  
"In full moons and other wise" he whispered winking at her.  
  
"In the best and the worst moments. till death do us part."  
  
And he conjured a golden ring which she took and put in her finger.  
  
"And I take you, Ellie Wood, as my wife, to love and to care, in richness and in poverty, in sickness and in health, in the best and the worst moments. till death do us part." And he kissed her hand whispering, "Though I'm not sure it will succeed in keeping us apart anymore."  
  
He took the ring she conjured and, as he leaned closer to seal their union with a kiss, Ellie felt as if it was their first kiss. Her lips trembled when he touched them and the world all around her swirled in pure happiness. Taken by emotion, the kiss took longer than was expected and they were only brought to reality by their best man, who had to cough a couple of times before they even noticed him. They both looked at Snape and felt their cheeks going extremely red.  
  
"And just a few more words before you go and enjoy the rest of you life together." said the old wizard who was conducting the ceremony, and, clearing his throat, added "Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak!" He smiled behind his half moon spectacles and added "Now go and be happy. Shooo!"  
  
***  
  
It was the end of spring and Ellie was getting near the end of her pregnancy. They were living together in her cottage in Scotland and, during that time, they were able to perfect the potion's effect and Remus only had to take it in the week previous to the full moon, which he greatly thanked. ("One less week of awful tasting.")  
  
They lived a quiet life now. Ellie was back to potion making and Remus was working for another book store. The Wolfsbane potion was now a common potion in St. Mungos Hospital to treat recent werewolf bites. Ellie received a generous fee monthly for her work in that potion, which allowed them to live a comfortable, though modest life.  
  
She kept trying to finance the World Werewolf Foundation, a place where werewolves could come and receive the Wolfsbane potion (since most of them were very poor and couldn't afford to buy it themselves). But the requests were constantly rejected. The Wolfsbane remained a healing potion only accessible to wizards and was still kept away, even in St. Mungos, from werewolves who wished to be safe.  
  
For Ellie and Remus, every day was a blessing and every day, though much similar to the previous, was like a brand new life all along because their happiness was so complete.  
  
It was a total surprise for them when early May brought them a beautiful owl with a letter with a crest Ellie had never seen in real life. The Order of Merlin's Crest.  
  
"Oh my God, I can't believe it!" she said looking at the crest. "Severus has made it!"  
  
"What?" asked Remus. She showed him the crest and quickly jumped from the sofa.  
  
Remus had never seen the crest of The Order of Merlin in real life as well. He turned the letter, hearing a couple of books falling on the ground, and frowned "But. why is it addressed to you?"  
  
Ellie's head appeared from behind a table. "Well, they're inviting me to the ceremony, of course." and she continued looking for something under the chair.  
  
"What has he done?"  
  
"I don't know." came her stuffed voice from behind a curtain by the fireplace. "That's why I'm trying to talk to him!" and she came out, looking under all the books and magical objects she had on top of the fireplace. She even looked behind a painting in the wall, saying "Why didn't he tell me anything, anyway?"  
  
"Are you looking for something?" smiled Remus.  
  
"Floo powder." she said, taking her wand from behind the sofa and saying "Oh, there you were" and sticking it in her pocket.  
  
"Accio Floo Powder" said Remus, opening the letter at the same time. And as he unfolded the letter, and opened his hand to catch the vase that he had summoned, his jaw dropped and so did the vase, because he stood up so quickly he didn't even remember to catch it.  
  
"Oh, thanks a lot, Remus." she said sarcastically, taking a broom from the corner and starting to dust the powder and the remaining pieces of the vase. Then, remembering she was using her racing broom, she quickly took out her wand from her pocket, blushed and muttered "Reparo" . And before he could start teasing her on using her Cleansweep for domestical uses, she said "So, why did he win it, anyway?"  
  
"For the Wolfsbane Potion" he said slowly.  
  
"What do you mean 'for the Wolfsbane Potion'? I invented Wolfsbane."  
  
Remus looked up at her, nodding and suddenly smiling and Ellie felt a jolt in her stomach. It couldn't be.  
  
She made it to grab the letter but Remus, keeping it out of her reach, started reading it aloud.  
  
"Dear Mrs. E. Lupin," he said "Well, nothing new here." and he winked "It has come to our knowledge your wish to make the Wolfsbane a medicinal potion also available to werewolves and that your repeated requests to have it financed in order to make it possible were constantly rejected.  
  
We, at the Order of Merlin, see your attempts as highly noble and, after much discussion, we have unanimously voted you to accept the Order of Merlin, Third Class."  
  
At this Ellie stopped trying to reach the letter and looked at him in shock.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Although it is not very common knowledge," Remus continued with a smile from ear to ear "the Order of Merlin is always accompanied by a money prize to permit the winner to live a job-free life for sometime and dedicate his or her life to their achievements in full time. We hope this will be your case as well.  
  
The Order of Merlin Ceremony will be held in two weeks, in the Morgana's Great Auditorium, in the Order's Headquarters.  
  
We hope to see you and to have been able to help you pursuing your noble cause."  
  
***  
  
It was just like she had always imagined. She had her best black robes and, facing the audience, she just let her heart speak.  
  
"I have much to thank. I want to thank every member of the Order for helping me fulfil my dream and to believe it is a noble cause to give werewolves a better life. I especially need to thank Professor Dumbledore, for all the reasons in the world." His blue eyes twinkled behind his half- moon spectacles. "And also Professor Doppler, who was my Potions teacher at Hogwarts and always made a wonderful job. I also need to thank my parents for taking seriously the responsibility of raising a child. I will try hard to follow your example." and she smiled to Oliver as well. "I also wish to thank Severus Snape, who has always been there for me and shares with me this great passion of potion making. You will always have a place in my heart." Severus' eyes shone deeply for a moment. "And Remus Lupin, of course, who bravely took the job of being my lab rat on this experiment." He was standing behind a curtain on the left side of the stage. Ellie looked at him, her eyes filled with love, and said "I'd like to dedicate this award to my father, a muggle who knew the value of true magic: the magic of love."  
  
She felt him smile and had to control her emotions to be able to continue.  
  
"And finally." she stopped suddenly. She looked sideways to Remus and said quickly "Thank you everyone." and left the stage before everyone's puzzled faces.  
  
"Ellie, that was so-"  
  
"Remus, my waters broke." she said in an urgent voice.  
  
Remus looked at her puzzled, and suddenly comprehension dawned on him.  
  
"Oh, dear."  
  
***  
  
Ellie was sleeping, exhausted, and the room was quite still. Next to her rested their precious pearl, Cynthia. Remus had fallen in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her reddish and wrinkled skin. She was the most precious thing he had ever seen.  
  
Next to her beautiful mum, illuminated by the full moon's light entering by the window, they looked like ethereal angels who had descended from Heaven to bless his own life. Remus walked up to them and laid his head on Ellie's lap.  
  
Feeling his warmth, Ellie slowly opened her eyes. She stroke his fur with all the love she felt. She had never been so complete. She saw his eyes shinning as a tinny tear of happiness fell, wetting his fur and her fingers.  
  
Her soul smiled. She didn't know that wolves could cry. 


	35. Epilogue Four Years Later

Epilogue - Four years later  
  
Remus was on his knees, walking slowly and looking very closely to every corner. He crossed Ellie in the living room and immediately said "shhh!" Ellie smiled. He passed by her, as if he was dog, and very silently reached a closet. He looked carefully inside.  
  
"Boooo!" said a little voice, and a tiny girl's head appeared at the closet door. She laughed deliciously as Remus made a frightened face and began to step backwards.  
  
"Oh, no!"  
  
Ellie crossed the living room again.  
  
"What are we playing today?" she said, as she made some toys disappear from the ground.  
  
"Peter and the wolf" said the little girl very seriously.  
  
"Hum. and let me guess."  
  
"I'm Peter!" said Remus looking very dignified.  
  
"And I'm the wolf!" cried Cynthia. "Raaaaawr!" and she ran after Remus, who quickly got up and started running in circles in the room.  
  
"Oh no! The wolf has got me!" said Remus in panic, as Cynthia grabbed his leg and pretended to bite it.  
  
"I'll grab you both a cup of Wolfsbane." said Ellie smiling.  
  
"Me too, mummy, I want one too!"  
  
Ellie come out of the lab and found Cynthia in Remus' arms, holding tight to his neck. Remus drank the potion quickly.  
  
"It's almost sunset, dear." he said to Cynthia "If you still want me to tell you a bed-time story it has to be now." She nodded very seriously and they went to her room. Ellie didn't think that in her heart could fit anymore happiness, but those two always made her change her mind.  
  
***  
  
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess named Cynthia."  
  
"Hum." said the little girl "I like it already." And she yawned.  
  
"She was a very beautiful princess. The most beautiful princess in all the kingdom." he smiled as he watched her close her eyes slowly. "She was a very happy princess as well. But she had a secret. A very well guarded secret. She was in love with a fair prince from a distant land whom she had only seen once."  
  
A few minutes later, the soft gentle snore of her little girl informed him she was already sleeping. Remus was looking at her when a shiver crossed his skin. The moon was rising. In a few minutes he transformed into a werewolf. But he remained there, just to admire her little girl.  
  
Ellie walked in the room slowly.  
  
"Is she sleeping already?" she whispered.  
  
The wolf nodded and, looking once again to Cynthia's happy face, he followed Ellie out of the room.  
  
***  
  
The full moon illuminated the sky like a night sun, it's white rays casting a very dim but beautiful light over the soft foggy atmosphere. It was a warm September's night. The small garden just outside the cottage couldn't look more like heaven itself, with its flowers and leaves covered in a wet layer that glittered under the moonlight.  
  
Remus walked into the garden and seated. He looked at Ellie, who was just behind him, and watched as she took her Animagus form. She had been an Animagus for almost 4 years now. They touched eachother's soft fur and growled as two purring kitten.  
  
And, leaning on eachother, both wolves looked up and howled an eternal song of love at the bright and inebriating full moon.  
  
THE END 


	36. Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements:  
  
I'd like to thank everyone who read and reviewed my first ever fan fic.  
  
I'm already working on a new fic, so I hope you will be able to see for yourselves if your comments, compliments and suggestions have made me a better writer (as I hope they have) ;D 


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